Nigeria at 60: Time for sober reflection – Senator Akpan

By Musa Baba Adamu

The Senator representing Akwa Ibom North East and Chairman, Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream), Bassey Albert Akpan had said the 60th anniversary of Nigeria as a sovereign nation should be a time for sober reflection.
He added that the independence anniversary should be the moment everyone, especially the leaders, come together to reinvent a nation where peace, justice and prosperity thrive.
Senator Akpan made the assertion on Thursday in a statement tagged, ‘Nigeria at 60: Salute to our fatherland and time for sober reflection’, which he issued in commemoration of Nigeria’s 60th independence anniversary.
According to him, “as we celebrate, let us ponder on the dire lessons of our history, using this period as a time for sober reflection. Let us hold on to the fact that “though tribes and tongue may differ, in brotherhood we stand”. As the giant of Africa, we must arise as compatriots and reinvent the Nigeria of our dream, where “peace and justice shall reign.
He, however expressed hope that as Nigeria overcame the 30month civil war, she shall also overcome insecurity challenges such as insurgencies, banditry, kidnapping, if there is unity of purpose, sincerity and total commitment
The PDP Senator also lauded President Muhammadu Buhari’s led Federal Government on the new development plan to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty by 2030.
“That we successfully overcame a daunting 30-month civil war, infers that with a unity of purpose, sincerity and total commitment, we shall equally overpower and put behind us the seemingly intractable cases of insurgencies, and other avalanches of criminalities like banditry and kidnapping.
“Agenda 2030 as put forward by President Muhammadu Buhari as the new development plan to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty by 2030 is a laudable vision. Nigeria can only be better developed by Nigerians”, he said.