Rotimi Akeredolu
Success Nwogu, Chukwudi Akasike, Etim Ekpimah, Alexander Okere, Ted Odogwu, Tony Okafor and Peter Dada
As Nigeria marked its 57th independence
anniversary on Sunday, state governors identified various challenges
facing the nation and made suggestions towards the development of the
country
The Ondo State Governor, Mr. Rotimi
Akeredolu, underscored the need for Nigerians to be united towards
building a prosperous nation.
Akeredolu, who spoke during a special
thanksgiving service organised by the state chapter of the Christian
Association of Nigeria to mark the anniversary at the Saint David’s
Anglican Church, Ijomu, Akure, said, “We have had moments of serious
trials which threatened our tenuous resolve for existential amity.”Represented by his deputy, Mr. Agboola
Ajayi, the governor added, “There have been impressions which excite
suspicion and commend centrifugal preferences. However, perspicacity,
placed on experiential pedestal, suggests, strongly, our continued
co-existence as we improve on the level of understanding based on the
received national template.”
Akeredolu also stated his administration’s resolve to make life more meaningful for the people of Ondo State.
“We shall protect all and sundry and
continue to erect structures which will deter the deviants and
undesirable elements,” he said.
The Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom
Wike, in his message, traced Nigeria’s woes to the failure to
restructure the country towards a progressive path since independence.
Wike, who made this remark during his
Independence Day address at the Sharks Stadium in Port Harcourt on
Sunday, stated that Nigerians must unite behind the national flag and
set aside the narrative of division, violence and hate.
He said, “After nearly 18 unbroken years
of democracy and despite positive assertions to the contrary, our
democracy keeps floundering under the watch of the Federal Government
just as the vast majority of Nigerians are alienated from the state and
estranged from the development process and denied the dividends of
democracy.
“If economic progress is the test of our
democracy, then we have woefully failed as a nation. For 57 years, we
abandoned all other economic options and depended on a single economic
product derived from the natural bowels of the Niger Delta.”
On the way forward, Wike pointed out
that Nigerians must be committed to sincere leadership, socio-economic
justice, fiscal federalism, rule of law, free and fair elections,
respect for human rights, eradication of poverty, access to quality
education, full employment and the guarantee of peaceful existence.
To the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Mr.
Udom Emmanuel, the task of freeing Nigeria from its economic woes and
entrenching viable societies depended more on leadership.
Speaking in Uyo on Sunday, he urged
leaders to look at other creative ways of growing the country’s economy
through the use of 21st century tools.
“Though we may have experienced economic
downturn lately, there is a silver lining in the sky; our recession
will soon be over, thank God! This is the time for our leaders to deploy
our huge natural blessings to create an economically viable society
where the youths would have jobs and hopes of growth and development.
“Let us look at other creative ways of
growing our economy, using the tools of the 21st century and engendering
in us, a new moral and psychological attitude based on the belief that
God endowed us all with special and unique gifts and we must appropriate
these gifts for the betterment of ourselves and the society at large,”
he said.
Emmanuel said he would pursue programmes that would ensure food sufficiency and quality education for the Akwa Ibom people.
The Kwara State Governor, Alhaji
Abdulfatah Ahmed, urged Nigerians to jealously guard the nation’s
freedom and do nothing that would truncate its nationhood.
Ahmed, represented by the Secretary to
the Kwara State Government, Alhaji Isiaka Gold, spoke during the
celebration at the Metropolitan Square in Ilorin, the Kwara State
capital.
He said, “These are however not the best
of times for our country. I want to re-assure all patriotic citizens of
our dear country that this administration will remain focused in the
pursuit of change to bring back the lost glory of this great nation in
the shortest possible time.
He said though conflict was unavoidable, Nigeria’s diversity should remain its source of unity.
In his speech on Sunday at the Sani
Abacha Stadium, Kano, the Kano State Governor, Dr. Abdullahi Umar
Ganduje, cautioned against hate speeche and condemned violent agitations
which resulted in loss of lives.
He reminded Nigerians of the sacrifices made by founding fathers to ensure the stability and unity of the country.
Ganduje urged Nigerians, irrespective of
tribes and religions, to embrace dialogue and present their grievances
through constitutional means towards amicable resolution.
He urged Nigerians to uphold the unity and oneness of the country in the interest of the present and future generations.
In Benin, the celebration started with a
church service held at the Christ Embassy zonal headquarters in Benin.
There, the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, noted that Nigerians
should remain united as a nation towards achieving greatness.
He said, “As a country, we are endowed.
The problem is not Nigeria. We only need to change our attitude as a
people and the nation will certainly grow and develop and our people
will prosper.”
Obaseki also approved the release of 70 inmates from various prisons across the state.
The governor, who announced the release
in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Communication
Strategy, Mr. Crusoe Osagie, described it as a step towards improving
the justice delivery system in the state, even as he added that the
beneficiaries would be sternly cautioned to stay away from crime before
they regained their freedom.
Similarly, the Anambra State Governor,
Chief Willie Obiano, on Sunday commuted the jail sentences of eight
prisoners on death row to life imprisonment.
The governor disclosed this during a
church service at the Saint Matthew’s Catholic Church, Akpu in the
Orumba North Local Government Area of the state.
He said the gesture was in the exercise of his powers on prerogative of mercy.
Some of the prisoners, he disclosed, had spent 18 years in prisons.
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