NIGERIA at 64: LET’S TALK TO OURSELVES:

NIGERIA at 64: LET’S TALK TO OURSELVES:

Nigeria is 64 years old, call it official or flag age. That day, 1 October, 1960 remained the flagship of the amalgamation of the entities that came to be called Nigeria. 

For a man, that age may be considered a swing point where deep thoughts are repositioned to reflect on the meaning of eternity and life after here.

Looking back from October 1960, from regional governments, parliamentary leadership experiments, civil war, death and deprivation, reintegration, restoration, reconciliation, military takeovers to presidential government arrangements, the closing chapter of our concerns is not yet written.

We have seen leaders, people who had and have made contributions to shape the fate and fortunes of this country. Many had come and gone, they had in retrospect deposited legacies of their contributions in Nigeria social and moral spaces.

Where we are today as a nation is a burden on the shoulders of all who come together and are called leaders. Incidentally this is a collective burden many of us must come to share.

Today, Nigeria may be facing multidimensional problems, from downturn economic traits to insecurity and the pervasive encroachments. Globalization has tied most countries to economic manipulative chains controlled by crafty forces operating from faraway corporate international rooms.

In the same manner, local insidious market forces controlled my maniacs are complicating matters by frustrating leaders and all of us here in Nigeria.

For Nigeria to regain economic strength, we must all come together to make contributions. No leader and no one know all the roads to success, but the surest way to failure is to think you can please everybody.

Good governance is as essential as air in the breath of the society. And the balance of social value that comes from the people is also essential in building a healthy society. What do wealth and money mean to people today? They are defining cultural and moral perspectives and controlling the vents of good conducts in our society today, this is destructive.

Today, insecurity is a porous decadence, it started as a vindictive scourge on the society but has moved to become a dreadful economic vampire. It is a fight for all.

Wealth drawn from these bestial accumulations are used to drive the wheels of social placements, who takes responsibility for that, the people or government?

The common myth about wealth is the consideration that having more will make us more secure, this is not true.

Wealth can be lost at the point insecurity overpowers it, but security can only be found in what cannot be taken away from us, such as the people’s goodwill, let’s strive to maintain that. Let’s maintain peace, it is the only thing that breeds understanding and goodness.

Everybody has a role to play in building a society of good people, your effort can go a long way in making our society a safe place for all.

Julius O Dike, KSJI, KSG, JP