Assessing Nigeria @60

In the spirit on Nigeria’s 60th Independence anniversary celebration, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Emeka Charles Kalu,  has said that the country has not fared well during this period.

The National Coordinator, Peoples Democratic Party Coalition (PDPCO), who spoke in Lagos, lamented that the country had the nation had retrogressed and not made progress by building solidly on what the founding fathers left behind.

He said the time had come for Nigerians “to wholesomely review where we are coming from, how far we have gone and what direction we must take from here going forward.”

Kalu, a one-time governorship candidate in Abia State stated: “My reaction is with mixed feelings over the state of the nation which its lack of pragmatic leadership has put us in this state of uncertainty of a united country desirous of progress and growth.

“I am proud of Nigeria because we are a strong nation, blessed by nature with everything we need to be great and the founding fathers did a great deal of patriotic work to set Nigeria on the path of becoming one of the greatest nations on earth after some decades, or at least to have been on the positive path to that viable and visible pedestrian of greatness and civilisation.

“But, 60 years down the road, can we say we have progressed well as a nation? Have we made the right headway for a nation that is free for about 60 years? The answer is ‘Yes’ and ‘No’.

“Yes, for the fact that despite our complexity and diversities as a multiethnic nation, we have remained as one nation, albeit, reluctantly; No, for the fact that we have not made progress to build solidly on what was given to us on the platters of gold. In fact, we have retrogressed.”

Kalu lamented that the nation could not boast of a good educational system as the best driver of any progressive society, adding, “we have not done enough to create the best infrastructure that will guarantee civilisation and development.

He, however, maintained that Nigeria could be great again because if the people choose to live in unity as a nation with no part seeing others as enemies to conquer.

On his part, Barrister Kenneth Udeze, National Chairman of Action Alliance (AA), has lamented that at 60, the nation has continued to be torn apart, instead of the united spirit that existed at independence.

Udeze, who spoke from his Abuja base maintained that Nigeria’s 60th Independence anniversary could have been worthy of celebration if the country’s unity had remained intact.

He stated: “Our united spirit of purpose is no longer there. It has been over taken by lawlessness, extreme corruption and betrayal of our collective trust for one another.

“Ethnic cleaning tendencies are on the rise by assessments, killing and terrorism is in the increase and politically motivated assassinations and kidnapping is now the lot of the contraption called Nigeria.

“I doubt if Nigeria can make merry, or make noise about her independence with the divisive nature of the polity.”

What in your opinion is the state of the economy @60?