By Chijioke Kingsley
Abuja (Sundiata Post) – Former Minister of Industries, Trade and Investment, Dr. Olusegun Aganga, has said that Nigeria cannot achieve sustainable economic growth and development unless it builds on a solid foundation and develops community-spirited Nigerians who live those core values.
Aganga in his verified X (twitter) handle said prosperous countries are built on a set of core values and urged Nigerians to support the government to build such values for the country.
The ex-minister of finance, stressed that without building such core set of value for the country, policies and programmes of government may not yield the desired results.
according to him “Surprisingly the announcement by the Minister of Information and National Orientation on 26 March 2024, that the President of Nigeria, @officialABAT will introduce the Nigeria Values Charter sometime this year did not make headlines and yet VALUES matter.
“It affects everything: quality of leadership, economy, education, elections, corruption, the quality and resourcefulness of the people to build the nation, the quality of the civil service, quality of execution of policies, plans and projects, productivity, sovereign goodwill, law and order etc.
“The difference between a rich and a developing or poor nation is not the size of the population or the natural resources it has but it is all about the people – their values, attitudes and ability to convert their resources to prosperity.”
He lamented a brake down of Nigeria’s value system, saying that the government must consciously work to rebuild the system if it aims to reclaim its position as the giant of Africa.
“Unfortunately the nation’s values system has broken down completely and unless we invest in rebuilding it sincerely, Nigeria will have no chance of regaining her position as the Jewel of Africa. As I explained in the book “#ReclaimingTheJewelofAfrica”, rebuilding our values system must go hand in hand with building a law and order society. They are the two sides of the same coin,” he stated further.
“I encourage the Minister of Information and National Orientation, @HMMohammedIdris to prioritise this as the foundation of our development,” he said .
“I say “rebuilding” because there was a time in the country when integrity was recognised and rewarded, the days when your wealth meant nothing unless the community knew the source of the wealth and considered it credible. It was imbedded in our culture.
“The Yorubas for example have the concept of “OMOLUWABI”, a Yoruba philosophical and cultural concept to describe a person of good character, a person of honour who believes in hard work, respects the rights of others and gives to the community in deeds, a person of integrity. The Hausas and Igbos have something similar. We can build on these.
“Nigeria is a country destined for greatness – it is not a matter of “if” but when,” he added.
