President Bola Ahmed Tinubu said Tuesday that world is currently benefiting from the can-do spirit of Nigerians who are making impacts in various sectors of economies across the globe.
The president said this in a nationwide broadcast to commemorate Nigeria’s 64th Independence Day anniversary.
“The world is witnessing and benefiting from the can-do spirit of the Nigerian people, our massive intellectual capacity, and our enterprise and industry in all vocations, from arts to science, technology to infrastructure. The dreams that our founding fathers envisaged are still a work in progress. Every day, we put our hands on the plough, determined to do a better job of it.
“While it is tempting to focus on what has been left undone and where we have stumbled as a nation, we must never lose sight of how far we have come in forging and holding our country together.
“Since independence, our nation has survived many crises and upheavals that led to the dissolution and disintegration of many other nations worldwide. Six years after independence, our country descended into a political crisis that led to a bitter and avoidable civil war. Since returning from the brink of that darkest moment, we have learned to embrace our diversity and manage our differences better as we continue to work towards engendering a more perfect union. Despite the many challenges that buffeted our country, we remain a strong, united, and viable sovereign nation,” he said.
The president said for the country and its people to make meaningful progress, past mistakes must not follow into the future.
“While we celebrate the progress we have made as a people in the last sixty-four years, we must also recognise some of our missed opportunities and mistakes of the past. If we are to become one of the greatest nations on earth, as God has destined us to be, our mistakes must not be allowed to follow us into the future.
“My administration took over the leadership of our country 16 months ago at a critical juncture. The economy faced many headwinds, and our physical security was highly impaired. We found ourselves at a dizzying crossroads, where we must choose between two paths: reform for progress and prosperity or carry on business-as-usual and collapse. We decided to reform our political economy and defence architecture,” he said.