Happy 54th independence day to all Nigerians

TODAY Wednesday, October 1, 2014, marks the 54th
anniversary of our independence from our colonial
genitors, Great Britain. It is a moment of triumph for
both countries.
The United Kingdom has just survived a referendum that
would have seen the separation of Scotland from the
rest of the country if the “ayes” had had it.
And for Nigeria, we are gradually
reasserting our territorial integrity after
the second bid by separatists to
dismember the country and create a
new identity out of a nation born
exactly one century ago.
The gallant armed forces of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria have started rolling back the threat of Islamist
insurgency group, Boko Haram, which seized several
towns in Adamawa and Borno States and claimed them
as part of their putative “Islamic Caliphate”.
With victory imminent and in sight, Nigeria will
demonstrate, once again, its ability to hold its own
against internal insurrection and external aggression.
This is what nations that are viable and will be great
can do. And this is a further incentive for Nigerians to
rededicate themselves to the unity of our country,
knowing that only a united Nigeria can protect Nigerians
and provide them the security they need to actualise
their individual and collective aspirations.
As we celebrate today, let us pause and reflect on some
of the challenges that have stymied our growth and
hampered our emergence to a solid economic and
continental behemoth in spite of our natural and human
endowments. We have held numerous constitutional and
national conferences, the last being the recently-
concluded edition in July this year. These conferences
were meant as avenues to seek solutions to our
problems, which are mainly ethnicity, sectionalism,
regionalism and politicisation of our religious faiths
rather than using them as means of seeking the face of
God our Creator and doing His will.
For the original Nigerian dream for which our founding
fathers struggled to free us from colonial bondage to be
realised, we must cast aside these unwholesome forces
of disunity.
We must see one another as people of one indivisible
country bound by common destiny. This country
belongs to all of us equally, and our constitution has
given us all the right to aspire to the highest
endeavours.
We must all go with the spirit and letters of our national
charter and give to ourselves and our future generations
a nation we can all feel at home in, and be proud of.
The whole world knows that the Federal Republic of
Nigeria stands on the threshold of economic emergence.
We must henceforth play our politics to ensure that we
realise the good things that lie in store for this nation.
Happy birthday, Nigeria!