Imbibe sense of self-worth, Emir Sanusi counsels Nigerians

The Emir of Kano, His Highness Muhammed Sanusi ll, has counselled
Nigerians on the need to imbibe the culture of self-worth in order to
move the country forward economically and technologically.

Sanusi made this statement in Abuja recently while giving a goodwill
message during the 2018 Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Nigerian
Society of Engineers (NSE) held at Chida hotel.

According to the monarch, the populace inability to recognise their
self-worth and cherish own value had all along been the bane of
underdevelopment plaguing Nigeria as a nation, saying that Nigeria
should go beyond admiring other country’s development, but rather
strive to rediscover its sense of self-worth.

He said: “The point for me is, how long would it take Nigeria to
transform itself? It would not take 40 or 30 years. All it takes is
for us to decide on our own self-worth.

“When you talk about infrastructure in a developing economy like
Nigeria, what comes to my mind was Nigeria in the 1950s and 1960s. We
should ask ourselves; why did we have all these Chinese companies in
Kaduna, Kano, Lagos and Ibadan – textile, footwear, light
manufacturing machine tools etc?

“Why were they in Nigeria and not in China? The answer is simple: in
1960 the infrastructure in Nigeria was much better than in China. It
was easier to produce goods and services in Nigeria than on main land
China.

“These are human beings like us with just good thinking, hard work and
a sense of self-worth. One man, den Xiao Ping , woke up one day and
said, communism does not mean we should all be poor.

Continued, he said: “We can be a socialist country but we can lift our
people out of poverty, we cannot continue to look at the rest of the
world. So, when people ask me what it is that we lack in this elites
in Nigeria lack?

 My answer is always that, we lack a sense of self-worth. We do not
know our own value. You can see it everywhere,” Sanusi added.

Proffering way forward, Sanusi charged the Engineers to as a matter of
urgency help look and rethink the curricular.

The Emir said:“I think one of the greatest responsibilities you have
is to help us look and rethink the curricular so that people who
actually come, especially in the technological areas: engineering,
medicine, agronomy, technology, there is absolutely no reason why a
graduate of agriculture should be applying for a job in a bank.

Speaking earlier, the President of Nigeria Society of Engineers,
Engineer Adekunle Mokuolu extolled the virtues of the emir, who
according to him has made his mark both in the public service, private
sector, and as a community leader in such an excellent form.

Mokuolu thereafter charged members to emulate the monarch so that
Nigeria can be a great place and destination for all citizens of the
world., not only that , he added: “so that we can get to the place
where the values of engineers will be so attractive and visible to all
Nigerians, particularly our political leaders.

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