A group of elder statesmen have urged Nigerians to put the interests of the nation above individual interests to make a great nation.
NAN reports that the senior citizens spoke on the state of the nation on Wednesday at the Metropolitan Club in Lagos ahead of the general elections.
The Chancellor of McPherson University, Dr Christopher Kolade, urged Nigerians to manage the natural resources the country is endowed with properly rather than using it for their own selfish interest.
Kolade said: “We as a country is endowed with natural resources and if we are to manage that resources well, there is no reason at all why Nigeria should not be one of the most advanced and the most progressive nation in the world.
“So what can be the issue? The main issue for me personally is that not many of us are looking at Nigeria as one nation; we are looking first at our own narrow interest.
“Instead of coming to a simple understanding that if Nigeria as a nation continues to do well, that will be the best platform to construct our success.
“Let us work together to bring Nigeria back to what it ought to be, a very big and successful nation, performing well with the resources with which it was endowed,
Prof. Anya Anya, member of the Advisory Committee on National Dialogue, said that for Nigeria to work again there should be 20 years vision and planning.
“I have always urged and in our consultations the need for long term plans, because before independence, the desire for independence was a uniting anchor.
“Whatever the differences, people wanted the independence; the tragedy is that since then, we have not been able to agree as a country to where we are going.
“I believe that we must have a vision, at least a 20 years vision, where should Nigeria be in 20 years’ time, elaborate it, whether it is economy, what type of governance.
“Then let us be sworn to it, so that there will be continuity, when there is a change of government, you don’t abandon what has been started,’’ he said.
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