Amid the hard times confronting Nigeria as a country, Nigerians in the United Kingdom have taken a look at the state of the nation and concluded that Nigerians should keep faith. According to them, Nigeria is a great country with massive potential for prosperity but only if the issue of incompetent and corrupt leadership is resolved before this potential will be realised.
This is according to Evong Evong, President of Inspire Nigeria, who spoke at an event in Edinburgh, United Kingdom on a series themed ‘Perspectives on Rebuilding Nigeria’.
Evong called on Nigerians to put the acrimony of the last presidential election behind them and support the government of President Bola Tinubu for the greater good of the nation. “The election was very divisive and that is because of how frustrated Nigerians are with the state of affairs and how eagerly they want to see Nigeria fixed. As it were, we all have different ideas on how this can be attained.
Evong, who is a cyber security specialist, said the youth will miss out on key developments, including the AI revolution if leaders cannot see beyond politics and personal gains. “Greatness beckons on Nigeria and she must harken.”
The star-studded event saw Nigerians from different professional walks of life gather to review Nigeria’s past, present and the future aiming to proffer solutions to the many problems that have made Nigeria the shadow of her glorious past.
Among those in attendance were His Imperial Majesty, Oba (Dr) Francis Olusola Alao, the Olugbon of Orile Igbon and vice chairman of Oyo State Council of Obas; Dr Ifeyinwa Kanu, Prof. Babs Oyeneyin and Prof. Stephen O. Ogunlana among other distinguished Nigerians.
In his speech, Oba Alao called on Nigerians in diaspora to support the government of Tinubu as his election could only be a divine appointment from God given all the obstacles he faced.
Dr Ifeyinwa Kanu, a sustainability expert and Founder/CEO of IntelliDigest Ltd, said Nigeria was behind in all millennium development goals and called on governments at all levels to do better.
Prof. Babs Oyeneyin, an Integrated Energy Consultant and retired Professor of Engineering, gave a historical perspective of Nigeria from a robust political system when there were regions, through to the civil war and state creations over the years. Drawing from examples backed by photos, historical information and data, he concluded that Nigeria did have its glory days in the past but have no reason to leave them there. According to him, opportunities abound in Nigeria and diasporas should seize this especially as groups of individuals rather than stand-alone individuals.
On his own part, Prof. Stephen O. Ogunlana of Heriot Watt University lamented the situation in Nigeria today culminating in the Japa syndrome. He applauded the federal government for withdrawing the fuel subsidy regime as it was a massive fraud. He called on the government to use the savings from the subsidy withdrawal for infrastructure development. He called for reforms, including the ‘state of origin’, local resource control and diversification of the economy. He said people should be able to claim origin in whichever state they live in.
Source: The Guardian
