How Nigeria can remain united, economically developed, by Atiku

By Folorunso Alagbede, Abuja

Former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku has expressed the firm belief that Nigeria can and will remain one strong and united nation with significant strides in economic development to improve the lives of our peoples.
Atiku however added, quickly that everybody in the country must work hard at the country remain strong and united by making necessary compromises to accommodate one another.
The former Vice President said this Thursday at the public presentation of a book entitled, “Remaking Nigeria: Sixty Years, Sixty Voices” in Abuja.
The book is an edited work with contributions from 60 Nigerians from a variety of backgrounds, callings, and ideological viewpoints.
The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the 2019 general election, pointedly declared that hard work and compromises were necessary for restructuring the country, especially in terms of the relationship between the centre and the constituent states and between the public and the private sectors.
In his speech tagged, “Development and Nation-Building for Nigeria’s Future”, Atiku maintained that fixing or restructuring will help in the nation-building project because “it will help to foster a sense of nationhood out of our disparate groups, cultures, religions, and regions”
Nationhood, he said, has to be forged through what we do as a country, and leadership is critical in the process of nation-building.
His words, “I strongly believe that Nigeria can and will remain one strong and united nation with significant strides in economic development to improve the lives of our peoples.
“However, we must not take it for granted.
“We must work hard at it and make necessary compromises to accommodate one another.
“Hard work and compromises are necessary for restructuring the country, especially in terms of the relationship between the centre and the constituent states and between the public sector and the private sector.
“We do not need to reinvent the wheel; there are numerous examples of success from around the world for us to borrow from while adapting them to our local conditions.
“That fixing or restructuring will help in our nation-building project because it will help to foster a sense of nationhood out of our disparate groups, cultures, religions, and regions.
“It is obvious that a country is not necessarily a nation. Nationhood has to be forged through what we do as a country, and leadership is critical in the process of nation-building.
“Leaders give direction and the example they set determines the extent to which their followers will trust them.
“Without trust, there’s no leadership. Without leadership, a country drifts and becomes more difficult to forge into a nation”, he said.