Nigeria at 60, the Nigerian Youth and Development -By Abdulganiyu Abdulrahman

As every first of October of every year is Nigeria’s Independence Day, Hon. Suleiman Lekan popularly known as Gadaf, celebrates with fellow Nigerians as the country turned 60 yesterday. Since that historic moment when Nigeria became a sovereign state, a lot have happened, ranging from security insurgence, deteriorating system of education, economic instability, abject poverty, unemployment, social menace and more sabotaging the progress of the country. These, in more ways than one, have made many Nigerians conclude that celebrating independence is not worth it.

Nevertheless, the country is ours; it is our fatherland. There is no where to run to. No place to seek refuge. We are bound by the desire to identify with the country, come hell or high water. Good hopes and thoughts that have died in our people must be re-awakened. The hope that Nigeria will rise again, the odds notwithstanding, must be kept alive. The efforts of our past heroes shall not be in vain. That is patriotism!

To see Nigeria in a new form, patriotism should be our major concern. The love of our country, despite our differences -religion, culture, race, region and belief system- should be our outmost priority. In patriotism lies solidarity, unity, peace and prosperity. We need to join hands together to build our nation. Cursing some set of people is not a logical move to make the country better. While it’s glaring that many might be accountable for the sorry state of the country, we must all take responsibility. We should continue to pray for our dear country in the genuine hope for a prosperous future. Our steps, in other words, should be rooted in optimism.

This time, we have to start thinking of how to rejig the country’s political firmament, a consideration that demands the energy of the youth. We must renegotiate our political strategies to accommodate energetic youths who are ready to serve in the interest of the country. Thus, it would be nice now for the country to see value in the potential, intellectualism and creativity of the youth who are the fulcrum of development of the nation. The youth, in their best capacity, must also be ready to answer the call in order to make the country great again. This requires hard  work, sense of responsibility, hope and rethinking. We should all break away from the unfriendly convictions that Nigeria is irredeemable.

In the spirit of the independence, let’s pray for Nigeria and retrace our objectives wherey necessary for the betterment of our dear country. We should revisit those exemplary paths created by our heroes past while we allow our country proceed on promising philosophy unmoored to disunity, nepotism, tribalism and others. We should not forget that to  have a better Nigeria, it’s our collective responsibility.