As Nigeria marks its 66th Independence Anniversary, the occasion provides an opportunity to celebrate the country’s history while reflecting on citizens’ shared responsibility to build a peaceful, united and prosperous nation.
In this special report, our correspondent in Ado-Ekiti, Oriola Afolabi, samples the opinions of Nigerians on the country’s 66th Independence Anniversary and Ekiti State’s 30th anniversary.
Some respondents, including political scientists, former political office holders and an economist, said Nigerians have reasons to appreciate God for the opportunity to govern themselves, take their destiny into their own hands and remain an indivisible entity despite the country’s challenges and the civil war.
A former Deputy Chief of Staff to the Governor of Ekiti State, Mr. Victor Adeniyi, said Nigeria is progressing, noting that successive leaders have contributed within their capacities, even though the country still faced numerous challenges.
“To God be the glory that we are alive today. Nigeria at 66, Ekiti at 30. I know that we are progressing and especially the one within my own region that I have been operating within, that I have been part of the system, that’s Ekiti State.
We must appreciate the late president, Sani Abacha, to have deemed it fit to create Ekiti,
because the development wouldn’t have been so massive like what we are witnessing today, though we have our shortcomings, but the overall assessment, we thank God”
Mr. Adeniyi, however, called on the government to be more sensitive to the plight of the masses by prioritizing policies that could give Nigerians hope and assurance, particularly in education, healthcare and infrastructure.
An APC chieftain, Chief Akin Fasae, who observed that Nigeria is still evolving, said Nigerians should appreciate the present leadership, noting that 66 years as a nation-state is only a fraction of the country’s history.
“The civil war attempted to break us permanently,
but it did not succeed. Though, there are still the traces of the effect of the Civil War among all of us, particularly the people from the Southeast.
But we thank God we are on.
We are in the Fourth Republic.
I was much born before the First Republic, So I witnessed it. I witnessed the first republic. I witnessed the second. I witnessed the third. And here we are. So, we thank God, Nigeria will not break. It’s a work in progress.
We continue to evolve”.
Che Fasae noted that “66 years in the nation-state is a fraction.
Sometime ago, I was reading countries that have been together for over 2,000 years in Europe. And you know, and even in america there was a civil war and they survived it, Nigeria will also survive the current challenges”.
Chief Fasae said the President Bola Tinubu administration’s policy on Regional Commissions could provide an opportunity for Nigeria to develop at its own pace, urging Nigerians, irrespective of their cultural differences, to seize the opportunity to catch up.
A political scientist, Professor Gbenga Aladegbola, said Nigeria is blessed with human and material resources capable of catapulting the country into the league of developed nations.
Professor Aladegbola explained that”we started very well in the first republic the nationalist movement did very well they inherited
all of these issues and they started development they came in and then centralized so many things
people off from participation and unfortunately determining the kind of electoral values that
we have now and people just realize that well if you can’t beat them you just join them syndrome,
everybody’s just waiting in the room to get his own share”
Professor Aladegbola, however, identified corruption, breach of trust and poor political development as major factors affecting the country.
Speaking on the poor perception of government policies and programmes, Professor Aladegbola said the disconnection, lack of trust and experiences of the past have failed to give the masses enough assurance of a better future.
The political scientist called on leaders of the Fourth Republic to learn from history and restore the virtues of service to humanity, selflessness, agriculture and economic growth, while making political offices less attractive.
ORIOLA AFOLABI
