Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike has said that Nigeria, as a nation, has performed poorly for 61 years and it’s time to quickly put measures in place to rescue it from the wrong direction it is headed.
The governor said this charge at an event in commemoration of the 61st Independence of Nigeria that held at Sharks Football Stadium, Port Harcourt on Friday.
Wike recalled that the path to Nigeria’s independence was charted by patriotic, knowledgeable and compassionate leaders whose vision was to build a united, peaceful and prosperous black nation.
He said if subsequent leaders had continued on that path, the nation would have actualised the dream of making Nigeria lead Africa to stand shoulder to shoulder with the rest of the civilized world within the shortest possible period.
“At independence, we were at par and even better in resource endowments and potential for development with our contemporaries like Malaysia, Singapore and several other countries,” he said.
“At independence and even now we are a nation blessed with very hardworking and resourceful people. Our youths are some of the smartest people in the world, doing great exploits, flying our flag and making us proud across the world in music, dance, acting, culture, arts, sports, academics and our unique expressions and community ways of live.
“But at 61, it does not seem to me that there is anything worthy of our celebrating except, perhaps, the fact that we have remained independent and managed to struggle with our existence for all these years,” Wike added.
He, furthermore, called for the creation of an egalitarian Nigeria as it would help put an end to some of the challenges bedeviling the nation.
