TODAY Wednesday, October 1, 2014, marks the
54th anniversary of our independence from our
colonial genitors, Great Britain. It is a moment of
triumph for both countries.
The United Kingdom has just survived a
referendum that would have seen the separation of
Scotland from the rest of the country if the “ayes”
had had it.
And for Nigeria, we are gradually
reasserting our territorial integrity
after the second bid by separatists
to dismember the country and
create a new identity out of a
nation born exactly one century
ago.
The gallant armed forces of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria have
started rolling back the threat of
Islamist insurgency group, Boko
Haram, which seized several towns
in Adamawa and Borno States and
claimed them as part of their
putative “Islamic Caliphate”.
With victory imminent and in sight,
Nigeria will demonstrate, once
again, its ability to hold its own
against internal insurrection and
external aggression.
This is what nations that are viable
and will be great can do. And this
is a further incentive for Nigerians
to rededicate themselves to the
unity of our country, knowing that
only a united Nigeria can protect
Nigerians and provide them the
security they need to actualise
their individual and collective
aspirations.
As we celebrate today, let us
pause and reflect on some of the
challenges that have stymied our
growth and hampered our
emergence to a solid economic
and continental behemoth in spite
of our natural and human
endowments. We have held
numerous constitutional and
national conferences, the last
being the recently-concluded
edition in July this year. These
conferences were meant as avenues to seek
solutions to our problems, which are mainly
ethnicity, sectionalism, regionalism and
politicisation of our religious faiths rather than
using them as means of seeking the face of God
our Creator and doing His will.
For the original Nigerian dream for which our
founding fathers struggled to free us from colonial
bondage to be realised, we must cast aside these
unwholesome forces of disunity.
We must see one another as people of one
indivisible country bound by common destiny.
This country belongs to all of us equally, and our
constitution has given us all the right to aspire to
the highest endeavours.
We must all go with the spirit and letters of our
national charter and give to ourselves and our
future generations a nation we can all feel at home
in, and be proud of.
The whole world knows that the Federal Republic of
Nigeria stands on the threshold of economic
emergence. We must henceforth play our politics
to ensure that we realise the good things that lie in
store for this nation.
Happy birthday, Nigeria!

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/10/happy-54th-independence-anniversary/