The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, has said the future of the nation depended on the attitude of Nigerians towards choosing the kind of government that would rule them.
He added that while violence was not necessary to make Nigeria a better nation, Nigerians must realise that they deserved the kind of leaders they elected at the polls.
The APC chairman and former governor of Edo State spoke at the Trenchard Hall, University of Ibadan while delivering a lecture titled, ‘Nigeria, a Trajectory of Dashed Expectation: Looking into the Future with Hope’, at the 2014 Alumni Lecture organised by the University of Ibadan Alumni Association on Friday night.
He warned that until Nigerians moved away from the era of sycophancy, political irresponsibility, dishonesty, moral turpitude and betrayal of public trust, the nation might not realise its greatness in many years to come.
He said, “I see very bright future for us all, but a lot depends on the Nigerian people, who continue to show docility and not being able to take their destinies in their own hands.
“Without any resort to violence, because that, to me, is defeatist, I do believe that we as a people can achieve so much through the ballot box by easing out that party who has held on to power for a decade and a half and have not made any meaningful impact in our lives.
“We in Nigeria today must begin to put an end to sycophancy and political acts of irresponsibility as is presently the case in Nigeria and begin to think deeply on how to develop our nation. And this is what we do in APC.
“While it remains an obvious truth that Nigeria, 54 years after, is perceived and still behaves like a toddler, there is no doubt that the country has suffered stunted growth as a result of gross leadership failure.
“This is exemplified by our failure, as a people to use our huge human and material resources to galvanise development in our country, this in spite of being a leading oil producing country in the world.”
He called for a balance between present needs and future demands that must be hinged on a well-articulated economic blueprint.
In his contribution, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, called on the executive arm of the government not to misunderstand the legislative arm in its oversight functions of budgeting and appropriation of funds to ensure effective utilisation of the allocation. He also commended the UI management for sustaining quality education in the country.
Tambuwal called on Nigerians not to lose hope for a brighter, better Nigeria. Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
YES u are right, so instead of Boko Haram, APC is strategically using Muslim candidates to sneakily Islamize Nigeria.
ReplyDelete