A Presidential hopeful under the Social Democratic Party, Ambassador Felix Johnson Osakwe, has felicitated with Nigerans on the celebration of 58th Independence anniversary.
Ambassador Felix Johnson Osakwe who is the Chief Executive Director of Universal Peace Federation said we cannot described Nigeria as a free and independent nation when more than 80 percent of Nigerians still wallop in abject poverty .
Read his full speech
"We cannot claim to be independent, yet, our children have no access to quality education, nor our youths with proper job opportunities".
" On this exact date, 58 years ago, our dear nation gained her long-sought and hard-fought freedom from British imperialism and started out on a new course, to rewrite our destiny.
" The attainment of Independence was in many ways, an unravelling, an awakening to the responsibility of shaping the geopolitical construct and ideological nature of this land called Nigeria and people.
It was a chance to Nuture, Inspire, Groom, Engender , Redefine, Inculcate and Actualize the ideals and sensibilities which made us a unique country of great people, diverse in our ethnocultural identities, yet collectively powerful and invincible as one nation.
" Our collective hopes, dreams and expectations did not make the burdens of reshaping any easier, on the contrary, it was the very idea that we needed to be a Nigeria whose manifest destiny could be decided and activated by Nigerians that made the task of nation building, the more tougher.
This was so, given the diversity which typified our nation. From 1960 till this very moment, ours has been more a struggle of harmony and conformity, or more simpler, a struggle for unity, than anything else.
To be sure, all other challenges we face today have emanated from the menace of disunity.
We have remained trapped in the ever broadening web of ethnocultural and religious differences, intolerance, class conflicts and strife, all of which has stemmed from our inability to appreciate our diversity, recognise our uniqueness and taking full stock of these, harness our varying capacities to engender growth and prosperity for all of Nigeria.
" And because of our failures therein, we have tarried on the path of socioeconomic stagnation and dissidence, worsened, of course by the scourge of poor leadership at every stratum of government.
" There is a sense in which our social challenges, especially the problem of leadership stands as the greatest threat to our sustained liberty.
As long as we continue to have leaders who put thier personal pockets and the welfare of their immediate family above the collective well-being of Nigerians, we will remain a politically independent nation of economically enslaved people.
" We cannot be described as a free and independent nation when more than 80 percent of Nigerians still grapple with poverty. We cannot claim to be independent, yet our children have no access to quality education, nor our youths proper job opportunities.
We cannot call Nigeria a sovereign nation of free people when our women still face the same limitations and restrictions that women faced in pre-colonial times. If we are truly a free nation, then our lives must be a reflection of corporate freedom and social liberty in all its facets..
"We must reflect the reality and consciousness of a people who enjoy unfettered access to socioeconomic prosperity and unhindered political goodwill. We must have complete access to freedom and all that it comes with.
" Nigeria's greatness is not merely her sovereignty, her political status or economic wealth and sociocultural prowess, nay it is in the unending opportunities which her people can enjoy without recourse to the controlling influences of political demagogues.
It is in the social security and wellbeing which her citizens can stay assured of, no matter which political party is in power, it is the enriching opportunities that her women, children and youth have within their reach in their pursuit of excellence. It is in the chance that every Nigerian whose heart pounds with pride, patriotism and loyalty at the sight of the Green-White-Green flag, has to actualise their dreams.
Our greatness is in the validation of our aspirations, however lofty they may be. So long as we remember this, So long as everything we do is focused on ensuring that all of these can be fulfilled, so long as we never lose a chance to be respected and recognised wherever we may find ourselves In the world, we can rest assured that our political status as an independently and sovereign nation of extraordinarily blessed people form diverse cultural leanings, will never be undermined by any sociopolitical cum economic aggression whether they be within or external.
"Above all else, we must never forget that the mission to stay as a peaceful, independent and prosperous sovereign nation is the shared responsibility of every Nigerian. To fix Nigeria, we must fix ourselves, our leadership and then our systems and structures. When we do this, we can readily create *New* *Exciting* and *Unhindered* opportunities for all Nigerians and thus *Raise Nigeria Again!*"
It is my profound delight to wish every Nigerian, a *Happy Independence celebration*
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