Current agitation pains of Nigeria’s rebirth ―Osinbajo

VICE President Yemi Osinbajo has regretted the ongoing debate of division in the country but expressed confidence that what he called “noise” is just the pang of birth of a greater Nigeria.

Speaking in Abuja on Sunday at a presidential Sallah lunch, he said all components of the country were important even as he maintained that the country will remain united. His words: “Despite all the noise that we hear, all that noise is part of the building. Everybody knows that you cannot have birth without noise. No woman delivers a baby without some noise and without some pains.

“What we are hearing today are the ‎noises and the pains of that great nation that God is about to give birth to.”Speaking against the backdrop of the Eid-el-Kabir celebration, he affirmed that the nation’s elite, both Christians and Muslims and all ethnicities must recognize that they must make sacrifices that are necessary ‎to attain the destiny that God has brought unto the people.

He added: “I am one of those who is extremely confident that our nation ‎will remain united because I am convinced that God’s plans and purpose for Nigeria is that we would be the preeminent black nation in the world.

“This is a nation that will show forth in culture, in technology and in commerce, God’s investment in the black race.

“This is why today for every, some people say ‎four blacks, some say five, one must be a Nigerian. That is not a mean attainment at all.

“That nation that God has in mind is a diverse nation. Diverse in resources, in ideas, in opinions. The kind of nation that we have, where there is an argument about something everywhere. Before you get tired of that lone argument, another one arises and before you finish with that one there is yet another one.

“This is the type of country that God has ordained. ‎Where we have diversity of opinions, diversity of ideas.”

Osinbajo noted that despite the divergence in opinion among Nigerians, God’s wish for the country is to be together and therefore, resources and energies should not be concentrated on discussing division.

According to him, “People saying their own things here and there. But He has also planned that this country will remain together, and that we’ll be a nation that is gifted just as we have the oil, the gas, and the most arable lands than most continents.

“This is a country that has all of what other countries will travel and spend money ‎looking for the sort of resources that we have. All of the tourism resources that we have people will travel everywhere looking for it.

“It’s a nation of men and women so creative and prosperous, that we will feed the entire continent and create opportunities ‎for the world.

“All the different ethnic groups are important in that arrangement.

“On every ethnicity, incredible minds, brilliant and creative people doing all manner of things.

“Our energies and resources shouldn’t be spent again on debate about division.

“Our manifest destiny is to be a great nation, not to be a nation where we are talking about division.

“We must focus out time, our energies and our resources on being that great nation that God has called us to be.

“I think we have started building that country already.”

Speaking on the need for sacrifice, he pointed out that the significance of the Sallah celebration was the willingness of Abraham to make the great sacrifice ‎of possibly the dearest thing to him, his son Isaac.

“And Abraham was able to make that sacrifice. And he made it in order to be able to fulfill his own destiny and the destiny of his people,” the Vice President declared.