Delta Governor, Historical Society of Nigeria (HSN) Bemoan Nigeria's Decades Of Independence 

By Kenneth Orusi, The Nigerian Voice, Asaba
Click for Full Image Size

Close to six decades after Nigeria attained her Independence, the country is still in the woods, Delta state governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, lamented.

Speaking recently during the opening ceremony of the 64th annual congress of the Historical Society of Nigeria (HSN) with the theme: "Building the Nigeria Nation Since 1914: Motion, Movement and Actors in Asaba, Okowa said the present state of the country should be a matter of concern to all.

Represented by the Commissioner for Economic Planning, Barr. Barry Pere Gbe, the governor stated that for the country to do better thus leaving a better legacy for posterity, "we need to reflect on our journey".

Okowa noted however that though Nigerians are concerned about nation building, the concerns hardly reflect on the straight path towards building a nation state that would match along with other developed nations.

According to the governor, "nation building is therefore the product of conscious statecraft, not happenstance. Nation-building is always a work-in-progress: a dynamic process in constant need of nurturing and re-invention".

Earlier in his speech, the President of the oldest organization in Nigeria, Prof. Okpeh Okpeh (Jnr), regretted that a country such as ours is grappling with crisis of enormous proportion.

He lamented that the nature and character of these crises have continued to eat deep into the carapace of the nation.

"From an ailing economy to rising youth unemployment; from the challenge of insecurity to the incubus of corruption; and from a largely short-circuited and disfunctional democracy to a fractured social process riddled with abject poverty.

"Nigeria has continued to slide almost irretrievably into the abyss of underdevelopment and anarchy, regardless of her enormous resources".

He blasted politicians who rather live extravagant lives to the detriment of the masses, "And while the bufalos of poverty, disease and insecurity are ravaging the land, political power mongers are engaged in a titanic confrontation which has nothing to do whatsoever, with the welfare needs of the mass of the people", he bemoan.

He noted that the present state of the country compared the association to interrogate with the centripetal and centrifugal forces which have collectively shaped and would continue to shape nation building process and efforts in Nigeria.