GRADUATES of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), Ekiti State, have been told that in the face of numerous challenges and confusions in the country, they are the real and true panacea for the conundrums.
This was disclosed on Saturday by the chairman of Channels Media Group, Mr John Momoh, during a paper he presented to mark the sixth convocation ceremonies of ABUAD.
Speaking on the topic, “Deconstructing the Nigerian Conundrum as a panacea for national cohesion and transformation,” Momoh told the graduating students that Nigeria country faced numerous challenges, though efforts were being made to resolve them, adding that more still needed to be done.
“We are witnessing different degrees of social, economic and political difficulties, compounded by the challenge of insecurity in sections of the country.
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“So, the call to deconstruct the Nigerian conundrum cannot, therefore, be an easy task, not only because of the problematic nature of ‘deconstruction process,’ but because the Nigerian conundrum is complex and sometimes a trigger of disillusionment.
“The good thing is that this situation tasks the ability to be audacious with hope,” he said.
Stressing the conundrum, he said it was a sum of intractable problems confronting the country, starting from the post-colonial period to the independence and, even up to the post-independence.
Summing up Nigeria’s experiences from the independence, including the invasion of the democracy by the military, coups and counter-coups and the tension around elections, he lamented that even in democratic Nigeria, the country only had a greater number of self-interested politicians, mostly concerned about pecuniary interests.
He bemoaned the running of state and local governments in the country, adding that while there may be some accountability at the federal level, there was little or none at the states and councils.
Going by the development, Momoh said the results had been failed promises, poverty, lack of economic development and insecurity, adding that the country was operating as if it was back the colonialism “where the politicians are the colonial masters and the people, the subjects.”
He lamented that while Nigerians were being led through this path by the “colonial masters,” they watch other countries which were once Nigeria’s development peers, like Singapore, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), China and, even, Rwanda, progressing
Momoh added that regrettably, Nigeria’s founding fathers played their politics on ethnic lines, adding that today, several years after the independence, the country was still dealing with the offshoot of rather self-centred calculations.
He, hereby, called for unity and peace in the country, while asking all elements of a piece and all ethnic groups to combine and make a balanced, harmonious and complete whole.
“Our challenges, our conundrum, which are obvious in the field of politics, economics and our sociology, are not insurmountable. With the right leadership at all levels, our nation would be galvanised and propelled to the right path, for the redemption and for the quest for national cohesion and transformation which we now urgently deserve,” he said.
Momoh stressed the importance of youth population of a nation while congratulating the graduating students that with their education, health and productive instincts, one was sure the country would grow.
He charged them to be audacious, prepare for life, take risks and utilise their youthful energy for Nigeria’s development.
and then