Nigeria @65: It’s Miracle Nigeria Still Together As a Nation – Ex-Senate Leader Ndoma Egba

Former Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma Egba, has expressed happiness that Nigeria is still one nation despite the diverse contradictory experiences and challenges.
“It’s a major achievement that inspite of these contradictory experiences, these contradictions, we are still one, we are still one nation.
According to him the country has made much progress inspite of our diversity as a nation.
Speaking at his residence in Calabar when the Chairman of the Beatrice Basssey Ita Investigative Journalist Award Comrade Aniete Akpan, and the Chairman of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) Comrade Archibong Basssey and her executive visited him, the former Senate Leader stated that Nigeria has made progress despite our diversity.
Ndoma Egba, a chieftain of the All Progressive Congress (APC) disclosed that 65 years in the life of a human being is a very long time, stressing that at 65, if you’re not a grandparent yet, you should be close to being a grandparent. At 65, you should have retired from what you are doing except you’re in academics. Because in academics, they now retire at 70.
He, however noted that but for a nation, 65 years is a very short time.
“It is a very, very short time in the life of a nation. But short as the time is, we have had these, heavily packed experience, or experiences,” he said.
He added, “Nigeria has passed through a cocktail of experiences. I am still in my 60s. Even though I’ll be exiting my 60s in a couple of months.
“But I’m still in my 60s. And in my 60s, I have seen colonial rule, I saw the fight for independence, I saw independence. I saw a surfeit of hope when everybody was hopeful. Everything was just moving.
“And then, the economy of the then Eastern region of Nigeria was one of the fastest growing economy in the world. Not in Africa, in the world. And the economy of Nigeria was one of the fastest growing in the world.
“Then we saw our first coup in 1966. Then we saw several other coups. Then we saw a civil war. Then we saw three regions become four regions. Then 12 states, 19 states, then 31 and 36 states. You know, then we saw there was a time when our problem was not money, but how to spend it.
“We moved from there to a time when money now became problem. When we entered the university, you went abroad only if you didn’t find space in a Nigerian university. That means you were not good enough for a Nigerian university.
“So it’s been a cocktail of experiences that ordinarily should make, should create mental health problems for an individual. I mean, if you had all these experiences in one lifetime.
“Because elsewhere your great-grandfather would tell you of the fight for independence. Your grandfather would tell you of the fight of the civil war. Your father would tell you how they had so much money. But in our own case, all of these experiences, generational, cross-generational experiences, are
packed together.
He dismissed those, who had in the past canvasser for the country’s breakup, saying they didn’t know what they were saying.
“But there is no sane Nigerian today that is advocating the breakup of Nigeria.
“And that is a major achievement. In spite of ourselves that is a major achievement and then secondly yes we would have wished to be miles ahead of where we are now it’s a wish we have had a number of missed turns and missed opportunities, yes, but so have all other countries. Nation building is not an overnight thing. Nation building never ends. It’s an endless journey. There is no destinaton that we see a milestone to say we have arrived at our destination of development. After all in America now we’re seeing third world actions and third world attitudes and it was the same America we used to envy but they are not behaving like like us which means that even countries like america can also enter reverse gear.
“So there is no destination called democracy or fully built up nation. So my attitude is we must continue moving forward. We just have to keep moving forward in spite of the problems,” Ndoma Egba said.