Nigeria At 65: We Need To Uphold Our Moral Values: Profession Ekiyor

 

As Nigeria marks her 65 years Independence, Professor Konrad Ekiyor, a  Professor of Philosophy said “Nigerians need to have a very serious reflection on their journey so far as a nation.

 

"You will not believe that when Nigeria gained Independence in 1960s, there was this group of countries that the world projected that in their twenty, five, thirty years, will join the league of advanced countries.

 

 "These countries include China, Russia, Brazil, Indonesia, Malaysia, but as we speak right now, sixty-five years after, they are all in the first world.

 

"And Nigeria is still lagging behind in the third world. It has to do with the qualities of the Nigerian Person. There is nothing these countries have that Nigeria does not have in terms of resources, population and all that but there is a very serious part that is left among Nigerian and that is their sense of nationalism.

 

"Nigerians don’t see themselves as Nigerians. They see themselves as different ethnic groups and all that so forging a nation out of these nations has been a challenge for Nigeria.

 

"Nigeria has failed in sixty five yeas in terms of creating multiple institutions, creating different layers of government, moving from regions to states. Thirty six states as we have it now but at the end of the day, how far have we gone as a people in terms of politics and all that.

 

"Poverty is still there, under development is still there. Nigeria is still grappling with different issues that other nations have left behind. It is a bleak sixty-five years for Nigeria. It doesn’t call for any kind of celebration. Even the government in power today will want to create all kinds of charade to give the impression that all is well.

"But there is nothing to celebrate about this country. It should be a moment of sober reflection of how we have failed as a people. As a country we are yet to evolve as a nation. It is impossible because we are just grappling with imperfection and the problems that bedevil us.

 

"We got it wrong in choosing materialism over idealism. We got it wrong in choosing the quest for materialism   than quest for spiritual prosperity.  These countries that I mentioned believe so much in Idealism and Philosophy and so much in the quality of the person and all boils down to the issue of what is wrong and what is right.

 

"Now we have a group of people, all they think about is money and how to be rich. We need to go back to the most important thing which is ideals morality and justice the issue of doing what is right. The issue of spiritualism instead of materialism. It is a rat race that we must look for a way to stop.

 

" Capitalism has not helped us; democracy has not helped us. We must return to the quality of the humans in Nigeria thinking about what is right and what is good as against how much do I gain. It has even entered the young ones today. Nobody is interested in morality again. They young ones want to be rich at twenty.

 

 "It may not be the way people are looking at it talking about the economy. We should look at the foundational  for oncs and until we go back to the sixties when Nigerians were more interested in their quality in terms of doing what is right, and doing what is good than pursuing money, we will continue to go round.

 Also, Engr. Ezonebi Oyakemeagbeha, the National Publicity Secretary of Ijaw National Congress said:"Well, I think that we need to just have a sober reflection. We can't say we are toddlers again even children are at most they walk by a year We as a country we are adults. It's shameful that having a claimed being the giant of Africa and yet we  are still crawling. There should  be a sober reflection. I expect that our own independence should  be  a moment of sober reflection. 

Where have we gone wrong, what happened, where did we go wrong? We have taken a wrong direction. We should settle down. When you take a wrong direction, you should trum round and say something has gone wrong.

  We have taken taken a wrong direction and when we take a wrong direction we should turn round and say that is not the right way. Let's retract and come back to the right way.

So  calling for celebration and spending billions to celebrate it is a shame just like a man who is 50 or 60 years and he hasn't achieved anything and your inviting people to come and celebrate the number of years you hav existed

We should get what we have achieved.  We were on the right track but somehow we fell apart and here we are so at this particular independence  is to give everybody  the opportunity to reflect where have we gone wrong.

 Is it the leadership, is it the fellower ship, it could be that some Nigerians because  of the way that they are used to the system everybody is going the wrong way.

 So somebody should retract The leaders should say no.  This is not the right way. It is time for preaching it's not time to celebrate.

 So we have gone wrong, we have actually gone the wrong way and we should re track so there is no need to celebrate. The money  we want to use for celebration can be put into even the road the one crossing from Lagos, Coastal Road. 

It will achieve some milestones if that is done. So what are we celebrating, why are we gathering people and begin to   March past and the only reason I think they want to  do that is because somebody wants to embezzle money. 

That is the only reason someone wants to celebrate.  So there is no need for us to celebrate. What are we celebrating, we know we have got our independence in 1960.  What are we celebrating. It is not making any impact.  

 The way forward is to re track and see how we can improve our economy. The only thing that has made Nigeria to be where it is the resources  that are still coming.  The oil wells are still booming. The gold is in the north and  all the mineral resources  are still there.

Our problem in this country is corruption. Let us see how we can fight corruption. The government of the day should see how we can fight corruption. That is the way forward.