…. As former President Atiku Abubakar reiterates that restructuring will help in nation building project
By Chibuike Nwabuko
Abuja (Sundiata Post) – Ekiti State governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi has reminded that nation building is an endless endeavour and as such, the defects that currently face Nigeria can be corrected without having to collapse the whole structure.
Governor Fayemi who is also the Chairman of Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja, as a keynote speaker at the national dialogue and public presentation of a book titled: “Remaking Nigeria, Sixty Years, Sixty Voices”.
He stated this against the backdrop of raging epistemological melee and dissolution solutions on how to end the problem of Nigeria, the loudest of which is clamour for secession and unending complain about marginalisation.
The Ekiti State Governor said, the issue of nation building is one Nigerians are passionate about. But the question is how best to approach the challenge that hails Nigerians. While many think our challenge is our size, some think it’s many ethnic interests conflicting with one another for domination, others think it’s about bad leadership and nothing else. There are those who blame poverty as the issue while Pan Africanists believe colonialism and intellectual imperialism are the reason why we are still lagging behind.
He maintained that the search for excuses and culprit to blame for our challenges is an insatiable one but that it’s an illusion to believe that Nigeria can actually reach perfection from our foundation.
Fayemi said the question to ask those who feel the idea of making Nigeria includes unmaking Nigeria is where the inhabitants of a country as big as Nigeria will take shelter if we must collapse it.
The governor therefore advised that we should understand that nation building is an endless endeavour and no generation is ever satisfied with the work it has done. It will take generation after it to appreciate the progress the previous one made, he said.
Earlier, the chairman of the ocassion, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar had reiterated call for restructuring the country, stressing that it will help in nation building project and foster a sense of nationhood out of the diverse people.
Restructuring will help in our nation-building project because it will help to foster a sense of nationhood out of our disparate groups, cultures, religions, and regions. It is obvious that a country is not necessarily a nation. Nationhood has to be forged through what we do as a country, and leadership is critical in the process of nation-building. Leaders give direction and the example they set determines the extent to which their followers will trust them. Without trust, there’s no leadership. Without leadership, a country drifts and becomes more difficult to forge into a nation.
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