As Nigeria celebrates her 61st independence anniversary, a media group, known as Coalition of Journalists Against Corruption (COJAC) has said that the only thing Nigeria boasts of, is corruption in high and low places, insecurity, banditry and kidnapping.
Speaking to newsmen in Owerri, the Convener of COJAC, Elder Chigozie Uzosike noted that it is unfortunate that sixty one years down the line, the country is battling to provide the basis needs of life for her citizenry, adding that the country has been caricatured as giant of Africa.
He hinted that how can a country be described as giant of Africa when such country is still yet to provide 24 power supply for both domestic and industrial use, no good roads, no visible infrastructure, no good hospitals, no affordable and good schools, no employment anywhere, stressing that the country should come back to the draw board and reassess herself in line with what count to be a country.
Uzosike, who is a media Consultant and former Team Lead for the Worldbank/FG on National Social Safety Net Program (NASSP) on Conditional Cash Transfer posited that the level of insecurity occasioned by banditry, kidnapping, insurgency diminish the celebration. He called on the federal government and state governments to brace up and tackle the menace head-on before they swallow the country.
The Coordinator, Civil Society Coalition on Sustainable Development, Imo State chapter, Uzosike said that if at 61 a country cannot solve her plaguing challenges like power, roads, hospitals, security, schools, unemployment, it means that the potentials of that country is buried under the heavy earth of the above, calling on the relevant authorities to unearthen these challenges and put the country on the wheels again.
He regretted that the lack of willpower and continuity on the side of the leaders have kept the country at this low ebb of development, revealing that a country that used to be envied, has been relegated to the background because of high rate of ethnicity, favouritism, tribalism and sectionalism that criss cross the length and breadth of the country.
The Convener, COJAC, therefore called on the leaders to sit up and straighten those things that unite us than those that divide the country, insisting that this should be the focus of this year’s celebration.
