All Progressives Congress (APC) National Leader Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu said at the weekend that the challenges facing Nigeria will give birth to a better nation.
He noted that the process of achieving the required result, though difficult, would lead the country to good fortunes, if undertaken.
Tinubu explained that the challenges demanded that the country changed from dependent on oil or fall by the wayside, adding that there was no third option.
The former Lagos State governor spoke in Abuja on Saturday at the dinner/award ceremony organised by the Ahmadu Bellow University Alumni Association.
His words: “Our nation struggles mightily to give birth to its better self. This is a difficult but necessary process that we must undertake, if we are to find our true way and reach the good destiny that God has written for us.
“Nigeria, our beloved Nigeria, is being called forth to define itself. Do we remain as we are or do we dare believe ourselves capable of something better, something more fecund and sublime?
“That which we decide shall shape not only our lives, but will reverberate across the boundaries of space and time. What we decide shall affect the future of this nation for years to come, just as it will influence the trajectory of brethren African nations and the entire race of Black people. Our ancestors, they now watch, hoping we do that which is right. Our descendants too watch, praying the same thing.”
He said Nigeria must teach its citizens quality education to revive the country.
According to him, “to discard learning is to walk into the fog of stagnation and poverty”, adding that the part might be hard, but the choice was clear and laden with promises.
Tinubu said: “Mastering the art of learning and education is the difficult task nations undertake when they commit themselves to progress. Barebones survival is all a nation can achieve when it disregards this principle. To esteem learning is to follow the gleaming light to prosperity.
“To revive this nation, we must teach our people as never before done in terms of the scope and quality of the education they receive. That education cannot be of esoteric type that is only beauty in abstract but devoid of practical value in our quest to build and develop the foundations of a new political economy for this nation.
“Let us honour and fulfill the challenge before us. Let us use the knowledge and experience that ABU and other fine schools have given us to innovate and create new ways to learn new things that will accelerate the development of this nation such that we bring forth an era of prosperity and hope from the challenges that now face us.”
Kaduna State Governor Malam Nasir El-Rufai said the demand for higher education was on the increase.
The governor, who was represented by his deputy, Barnabas Bala Bantex, called for increased capital development in the country to build Nigeria’s economy.
“We need human capital development for socio-economic growth of Nigeria,” he said.
The late President of Nigeria, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, received a posthumous grand premier award. Other awardees included former Vice President Atiku Abubakar (premier award), Hajiya Aisha Buhari (grand patron Award), former Defence Minister Lt.-Gen. Theophilus Danjuma (Humanitarian Award), former Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman Prof. Attahiru Jega (Career Service Award), among others.
