Nigeria at 52: Akinjide, Lar, Obahiagbon, others speak •Jonathan declares one year prayer project

Posted by admin Headlines Monday, October 1st, 2012

IT was commendation and condemnation galore from various prominent leaders for the Nigerian nation as it attains 52 years of independence today, even as Chief Richard Akinjide, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), said that the country is moving forward.

Speaking with Nigerian Tribune on Sunday, Akinjide, who was the Attorney General and Minister of Justice during the Second Republic, while praying that things should get better as the country moved on, however, said that Nigerians deserved better and improved infrastructural development.

“As we celebrate the 52nd year of our independence, the Nigerian citizens need better roads; we need better water supply, better rail system and better power stations. Our leadership has started very well and the sky is not the limit for them,” Akinjide said.

However, a Second Republic governor of Oyo State, Dr Omololu Olunloyo, said he was angry with the Nigerian state, declaring that “the nation is now in a state of tragedy” because, according to him, the country and its people were not where they were supposed to be, 52 years after independence.

Declaring that virtually everything was wrong with the country, Olunloyo said, “Our vehicle is moving backward and it may be so for the next 1,000 years. Our economy is in ruins; many people with questionable background are now getting everything in Nigeria.

“The country is now a state of joke; people are not serious at any level. I have been in government, on and off, since 50 years ago. Now at age 77, I am sorry for myself; I don’t have landed property in Lagos, Abuja or abroad.

“The nation is in a state of tragedy. Governance is at low ebb; there are a lot of natural disasters like flood; there are also man-made disasters like misgovernance at every level, with just some few exceptions,” he said.

The former governor old Oyo State also took a swipe at the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), blaming it for the spate of insecurity in the country, particularly the Boko Haram insurgency in several parts of the North.

“The ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), of which I am a member, at the national level made some costly mistakes in the last two years as regards the economy and security.

“The former National Security Adviser (NSA), General Owoye Azazi, once blamed the PDP for the state of insecurity and he was right. We made a serious collective error by messing up the zoning system.

“We allowed sentiments, based on perennial punishment and despoilation of the Niger Delta environment to shift the presidency to the South-South whilst the North-West had not even finished the first term to which they are entitled.

“Is there any link between this occurrence and the mysaterious Boko Haram onslaught? I don’t want to sound simplistic because Boko Haram seems to be confined to the North, to the Christian churches and the so-called Western education by the talibans.

“We just have to be careful of 2015. The power shift system, which has six zones and did not state anywhere officially whose turn it is, is a mischievous arrangement,” he said.

For the pioneer PDP national chairman, Chief Solomon Lar, Nigeria has achieved quite a lot since independence, but added that corruption has been the major challenges facing the country, as well as retarding its growth.

Lar, who was the first civilian governor of Plateau State, said that both the government and the people should be more determined to fight the monster.

“Nigeria has achieved a lot in the area of education, health, international relations and many other spheres of life. But the major challenge facing the country today is corruption, which has eaten deep into every aspect of our economy.

“To bring back the glory of Nigeria, every Nigerian needs to say no to corruption and show commitment to Nigeria. If we can do this, Nigeria will become a better place and as well regain its lost glory,” he said.

In his comment, Professor Adeola Adenikinju of the University of Ibadan observed that there had not been fairness in the Nigerian tax system since independence.

According to the professor of economics, over the years, Nigerian leaders had formulated indices and parameters on which revenues collected through the federation accounts were shared, but with dissenting voices in respect of the sharing formula.

Former chairman, Committee on Information, House of Representatives, Honourable Dino Melaye, said “there is nothing to celebrate as the independence has lost its value.

“The Nigerian nation is sick, considering the present woes bedeviling us as a country. We are already stagnated, we are neither moving forward nor backward and it is a shame.”

Meanwhile, President Goodluck Jonathan, on Sunday, flagged off the one year prayer project, observing that prayer had helped the Americans to determine the direction of their country and could achieve same for the country.

He also declared that he alone could not solve the myriad of problems facing the country, noting that it would require the efforts and supports of all Nigerians to overcome the challenges.

Speaking at the 52nd Independence anniversary interdenominational church service at the National Christian Centre, Abuja, the president said Nigeria would succeed.

“Leadership at all levels is collective; one person cannot change a nation. Agreed the leader matters, but he cannot change things alone. All of us must work together to rebuild our nation. Our men and women will change things in this country.

“There are so many Nehemiahs in the National Assembly, the Federal Executive Council, our judiciary, our teachers, businessmen and women and I believe God will use these Nehemiahs to rebuild the country. I can say again that Nigeria will succeed. With your cooperation, we shall succeed,” he said.

In his reaction, Honour-able Patrick Obahiagbon, said “as we celebrate our flag and shambolic autarky at 52, we must realise that Nigeria is still more of a geographic contrivance as has been rightly posited by Chief Obafemi Awolowo. Not with our centrifugal excrescences preponderating over our centripetal proclivities.

“It’s a matter for mental pabulum that we are daily drifting into our ethnic cocoons. We still remain one country with disparate ethnic agendas and I can say it for the umpteenth time again that we must sit down in a sovereign national colloquy to discuss the basis for our nationhood. Anything short of this is just vacuous scahiamachy.”

Mike Ahamba, in his comment, said “Nigerians should not be discouraged with the events of the present days. Every great nation had passed through tribulation and they emerged stronger, the same thing will go for Nigeria.

This is a phase we are passing through and we shall emerge stronger and better. We should all have faith in Nigeria.”

-Tribunewp_posts