Fashola: our greatness requires collective efforts, peace

Oct 3rd, 2011 – Fashola: our greatness requires collective efforts, peace

As Nigeria marked her 51st Independence anniversary on Saturday, Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) restated that it would require the efforts of every citizen in a peaceful atmosphere to build the collectively desired country.

Fashola, who spoke at the Police College, Ikeja, venue of the march past  involving the Police, voluntary organisations, school children and para-military agencies, noted that “nobody will do it except ourselves”.

He said: “We can, of course, continue to agonise without organising, and in that sense betray the responsibility of our generation. Conversely, we can resolve from today to be part of the solution rather than the problem.”

He recalled that during his 50th anniversary address, he had cause to assert that Nigeria’s good days are ahead of her and not behind her.

Fashola said: stating that: “Today, inspite of the challenges that we face, my belief is unshaken; that our better days lie ahead of us, but it is more important to also say that we must earn it by working hard, probably harder than we have ever done before”.

“We must earn it by promoting our common humanity and embracing peace, probably more than we have ever done before. We must aspire to those better days which lie ahead of us by exercising the greatest restraint that we can muster when things are not going the way we expect.”

The governor, who said  he should not be misunderstood to be suggesting that Nigerians must remain docile in the face of want, hunger, poverty and insecurity, added that options and choices must be considered to redress those wrongs without aggravating its already difficult situation.