BY VICTOR NWEGEDE
Chief Emmanuel Obasi, JP, the Principal Secretary to the Governor of Ebonyi State has pinpointed unpatriotism as one the major factors keeping Nigeria backward.
He stated this in Abakaliki while interacting with newsmen, few days before Nigeria's 61 Anniversary since October 1, 1960, her indepenrdence day and Ebonyi State marking 25 Silver Jubilee following her creation on October 1, 1996.
Assessing Nigeria's achievements since her independence, Obasi said that the country is still young in comparing her to other developed nations such as America getting to over 200 years, United Kingdom now more than 300 years old, among others.
The Principal Secretary further faulted the country's leadership system and maintained that bad governance and lack of patriotism by Nigerian leaders have become the major factors depreciating the future of the country.
According to him, "in comparing everything, Nigeria is doing fairly well but, not very well, because, we've been having problem of leadership in this country."
He said that most of Nigerian leaders at the national level, have not been able to move the country forward as expected, due to their unpatriotic disposition, and this for decades, has continued bringing the country back to square one, even where she recorded some development.
"Most of the love by some of our leaders are prophesied in the mouth not in the heart, because, even people who claimed that they love the country, when you approach them and see what they do, their tribalistic and nepotic tendencies, you will know that they don't really love Nigeria. They love Nigeria because they are in power at the national level," he said.
He also attributed the cause of the country's unfortunate condition to her delayed transition from military rule to democracy.
"If you consider at the political level, or governance level, you see that we have not had steady democracy except in the past 20 years, when we transited from military rule in 1999 to this democracy we are enjoying now. And democracy is not something that you just plant and it will grow in a day. There must be a lot of pick ups, constutitional amendment, and some changes in the system, before you get a stable polity that can give a steady development.
"Unfortunately, we don't have that, but we are learning. I will not waste time discussing Nigeria, because the problem of this country is a failure of leadership, so said Chinua Achebe. Why I said so is that there are still some national leaders that made some impacts which we expected that the next administration would take to the next level. Sometimes, they do and sometimes, they don't."
He opined that if the spirit of patriotism should be imbibed by the leaders and citizens of the country, it would go a long way to address her unfortunate conditions including corruption, unemployment, insecurity, segregations, and other irregularities emanating from bad governance.
Obasi however, commended the Governor of Ebonyi State, Engr. David Umahi for having shown exemplary leadership style in his current office, while assessing the state's statue at her 25 years anniversary.
"In Ebonyi State, we thank God that a man like His Excellency, Governor David Nweze Umahi is in power. For about six and half years now, what he has done, you can be sure that if it is sustained for another half and six years, this state will be the Dubai of Africa," he said.
He said Umahi has proved to Nigerians that leadership is the problem of the country, in considering his developmental strides including flyovers, quality roads, University of Medical Sciences, airport, shopping mall, streetlights, human empowerment, the ongoing recruitment of civil servants, stable security network and many others.
He described Umahi as the best governor in Nigeria, saying that he has done very well in every aspect of human concern, especially in reversing useless pyschologies of youths, by engaging them in meaningful ventures, such as farming, skill acquisition and entrepreneurial development, with financial interventions to make them self-reliance.
He countered an insinuation coming from some quarters that the constitution also contributed to the political crises in Nigeria, but urged the leaders to allow justice, fairness and equity to play gallery in governance in order to move the country forward.
"99 per cent of Nigeria's problems is failure of leadership, not the constitution. It is the politicians that are using the constitution to cause problems for the country. They are not patriotic and even the way, the constitution was conjoined. It was still politicians who don't love Nigeria that went and conjoined the constitution as it's today. If they really love this country, the highest they can give the country is justice, fairness and equity. But the most important one to address in this country is failure of leadership because if you give President to somebody like Governor David Umahi, I know with the kind of the constitution there now, and the face of Nigeria will definitely change," he said.
In collaboration, the Executive Chairman of Ebonyi Local Government Area, Chief Mrs Chinyere Nwogbaga and the immediate past member of Board of Directors, Sokoto Rima River Basin Development Authority, Hon James Nwite called for a serious commitment by all and sundry in fighting crimes and criminalities as they observed that the security challenges of the country have posed a great threat to both infrastructural and human development these days.
The duo equally commended the developmental strides of Governor David Nweze Umahi in his present office and therefore, recommended him for presidency come 2023.
