AHEAD of Nigeria’s Independence anniversary coming up next Tuesday, the Senate Thursday reviewed the state of the nation 53 years after freedom from colonial rule and charged leaders to eschew greed and selfishness, and pursue only those things that promote unity and peace among citizens.

   Adopting a motion sponsored by the Senate Majority Leader, Victor Ndoma Egba, and 10 others, the Upper Chamber lamented that Nigeria has gone backwards from a producing and exporting nation at independence to a mere consuming nation 53 years after.


   In his remark, Senate President, David Mark said that ordinary Nigerians deserve congratulations for being so patient even in the face of frustrations occasioned by maladministration as witnessed within the period.

   “We are genuinely worried about our country; across political, religious and ethnic boundaries, we are truly worried because some key aspects of our values and traditions have been lost,” Mark said.

   “In the old National Anthem, we said ‘in brotherhood we stand.’ Do we still stand in brotherhood today? We used to be our brothers’ keepers, are we still our brothers’ keepers? The answer definitely is no. Instead, we do those things that hurt others now.

   “We need to look inwards and begin to search our minds. The ball certainly is in our court as leaders to do what we should do to reverse the trend. We must shelve the attitude of seeking power at all cost. We do not need to get desperate about getting to the top. At any level, we must be ready to contribute our quotas.”

   He added: “We have so much human resources in this country but we are losing them because everybody has gone out of the country to seek greener pastures. We must do something to get them back.”

   Introducing the motion earlier, Ndoma-Egba said that Nigeria deserved congratulations for surviving series of challenges right from her pre-independence era through the civil war period to the long period of military rule and yet remained united.

   Senator Awaisu Kuta, who seconded the motion, lamented that of the 53 years of Nigeria’s independence, the military ruled for 30 years, pointing out that we would have gone far without the intervention.

   In his contribution, Senator Solomon Ita Enang noted that it was too bad that Nigeria had not done well in all indices of development. According to him, “there are things to look at in determining whether or not we are truly independent. First, what was the quality of our education and what is it now? What about our economy? 

   “Frankly speaking, we need to take steps to reverse all these if we want to join other nations in the class of independent nations. For example, at independence, factories were working well, but today almost all of them have closed down and moved to neighbouring countries.”

   Also speaking, Senator Gbenga Ashafa called on Nigerians, particularly past and present leaders, to reflect on how “we brought ourselves to this level. Before it is too late, there is need to restore Nigeria to a status where the ordinary man can get succour.”

   However, Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe feels that a major issue that has caused Nigeria’s democracy serious setbacks was the absence of true democratic culture among politicians. He lamented that even those who called themselves leaders had failed to accommodate the views of people opposed to their positions.

   According to him, people see those few ones who accommodate opposing views as weak, and “this is why we need to commend President Goodluck Jonathan for being able to give a listening year to those opposed to his own ideas.”
Source Guardian News