Nigeria @60: Nigeria not a failed Nation-Gen. Abdulsalami …

By Our Correspondent in Minna

Former Military Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar has faulted conclusions by some Nigerians, that the country is a failed state due to multi-sectoral challenges, including security.

He insisted that the numerous challenges notwithstanding, Nigeria cannot be classified as a failed state.

General Abdulsalami, who spoke in his country home Minna, was however, quick to add that, “But for Nigeria to remain as one, we must ensure that there is equity and justice and to make sure that there is equal representation, as we move ahead.”

According to him,despite its challenges, Nigeria still commands appreciable level of respect among comity of nations.

The General said that whatever the country and its citizens were going through should be regarded as part of its peculiar up and down which did not make it a failed nation inspite its socio-economic problems.

He said: “It takes two to tango. When you say a nation has failed, what causes that failure? You point accusing fingers at the government but who is the government? It is me and you.

“It always good to remain positive about our country, Nigeria,individual contributions is key to nation building. If we all individually contribute toward the Nigeria of our dream, I see no way anybody can regard us as a failed state.

“What have we contributed to make the so-called failure? Have we done our citizen’s right as a people and leaders in our respective ways have we done our citizen’s duty, Are we obeying the laws of the land, Are we paying our taxes,” he asked Nigerians.

He added ” We cannot blame anybody in particular about the state of the nation when we have not added to make it a better country.

“I agree, a lot of things could be done better, so if we as a people are having the feeling that we are becoming a failed nation, what are we doing that is making us a failed nation, and what is it that we should do to get out of this bad perception?

“I think we still command a lot of respect in the comity of nations and I believe we could do more and the only way to do more is for all of us to put our hands on deck to ensure that we do the right thing at all times.

“What I think we need to do is to sit down and think how we would work as a nation, on how there would be more equity and justice as we move forward as a nation.

“We should also ponder over how we can make sure there is equal representation in all we do and also how do we disabuse the minds of Nigerians on this issue of religious and ethnic differences.”

Abdulsalami,however, reminded Nigerians glamouring for the country to split that,” there is strength in togetherness.”

“One thing we all should take note of is that, there is an advantage in unity. Nigeria is being seen today as the biggest black nation and I believe this way, we can make an impact in world politics.

“This we can achieve by ensuring that we represent the black nation in the world and we should have a bigger voice in maintaining this leadership that can only be achieved when we are together as a country, ” he urged.

He also reminded agitators of disintegration that “when we try to split this country, our voice will not be heard.”

The former mii head of state stressed that for Nigeria to attain the desired greatness as a nation, “We must be a disciplined society.”

“It is very unfortunate that there is still indiscipline in this country. People don’t obey rules, they do not obey orders and people flaunt anything you can think of.”

He said that the leaders and followers had role to play in the making a better Nigeria, adding that all that the people must first of all do would be to imbibe the culture of self-discipline.

“There is nothing the government can do besides making rules and regulations, it not the duty of the government to start chasing us up and down, to make sure we do the right thing,” he reminded the citizens.

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