Governor of Ekitistate, Dr. Kayode Fayemi says over the years, Nigerians have agonised over the lamentably slow pace of development.
He said, that successive governments and policy makers have responded with various approaches and strategies for achieving the much desired for national development, without performing to optimum capacity.
Dr. Fayemi asserted this during the 50th anniversary of Arewa House in Kaduna on Saturday, where he said:
“yet, even the most charitable analyst of our political economy would be forced to agree that we have not performed to our optimum capacity.”
Fayemi who is the Chairman of the Governor’s Forum explained that many would disagree with the premise that there is a significant gap between Nigeria’s potentials for greatness as a country, and the position of the country now.
He said, it is the duty of all well-meaning Nigerians to leverage on the progressive avenues and platforms available, to interrogate the issues to determine how the journey could be to greatness.
According to him, “the issues have become particularly germane against the backdrop of the significant events of the recent past. First, the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic which negatively impacted the economies of all countries, especially those in the global south. Nigeria was no exception, and we continue to contend with the pressures at the federal and sub-national levels, towards ensuring the right policies and interventions that would help us steady the ship of state to calmer waters.
“Second, the youth-led demonstrations against police brutality #EndSARS which metamorphosed into agitations beyond the main subject, to encompass demands for more holistic reforms that would ensure our country becomes more just, fair, and inclusive to our youth demography which forms the majority of our population.”
He explained further that sixty years may be a long time in the life of an individual. But a sixty-year-old nation, is a nation yet in its infancy
Meanwhile, he said rather than despair over the failures of the past, he would rather we look ahead with great hopes at the infinite future that lies ahead of the country.
“What we have failed to take full advantage of is the fact that our diversity is indeed a source of strength. Our ability to live together as a diverse but unified country is something we should celebrate.
“It is what makes us better than even Europeans who find diversity management difficult. The Balkans had to split into Sweden, Norway and Finland. Czechoslovakia became Czech and Slovak nations, the Soviet Union couldn’t hold together, Yugoslavia collapsed into Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia and Herzegovinia and Britain still has not found a definitive answer to the Irish, Welsh and Scottish question.
“But imagine Nigeria with over 250 ethnic nationalities and particularly in Arewa, where no state, indeed few communities can claim to be homogeneous. Yet we are managing our diversity very well until we lost the values of tolerance, equity, fairness and justice which we inherited from our founding fathers such as the Sardauna of Sokoto,” he explained.
