By Aideloje Ojo Minna
Former Military President, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, has reassured Nigerians of a brighter future in 2018 and beyond, advising countrymen not to despair in the face of daunting challenges.
The former leader gave the assurance in a message made available to Blueprint yesterday, He said, Nigerians “should use the New Year to renew our commitment to our collective prosperity, growth and development by contributing more to nation-building and shun all forms of negative tendencies.
” Babangida expressed the optimism that “the nation we so sacrificed to keep going and to this age, can only be better notwithstanding various security and economic challenges that have become a world order; confronting every country of the world in different magnitude and in different ways.
“As Nigerians, our unique strengths and characters to overcome our challenges collectively have never been in doubt. What we need now more than ever is to galvanise these unique qualities for the good of all as permissible under a democratic set up,” he said.
He added that all must “strive at this point to imbibe the core values of democracy by respecting each other’s rights and pursue individual goals in tandem with our national objectives for a better Nigeria and not better individuals that will not reflect on us all.
“A season like New Year often offers us a new inspiration to give each other support, we should at this point truly believe that we are great in our diversity, in it lies our strength and uniqueness.
“Believe me, when I say from my experience as a military officer who fought to keep Nigeria one; that we have had difficult times to be where we are today, and we will not wish our children , grand children and great grand children to witness war again – we have made the sacrifice for them.
“I say to you compatriots today and truthfully that I am unafraid to be optimistic that the future of Nigeria is bright,” the retired army offer stated, urging all “to take the inspiration offered the New Year to build Nigeria of our dream, devoid of divisive tendencies.”
