National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, Ahmed Bola Tinubu has said that Nigeria would ultimately overcome its present challenges and ‘give birth to its better self’.

Tinubu spoke in Abuja on Saturday at the dinner/award ceremony organised by the Ahmadu Bellow University Alumni Association.

The former Lagos state governor said the nation can no longer afford to stick to the old ways of doing things as we must believe that we are ‘capable of something better’.

Tinubu further stated that our ancestors and descendants are keenly watching – hoping that the right thing would be done.

“Our nation struggles mightily to give birth to its better self. This is a difficult but necessary process that we must undertake, if we are to find our true way and reach the good destiny that God has written for us.”

“The old model of an oil dependent political economy has shattered before our eyes. To feign blindness and act as if nothing has changed is to insist on failure that will mortgage our present and future.

“Nigeria, our beloved Nigeria, is being called forth to define itself. Do we remain as we are or do we dare believe ourselves capable of something better, something more fecund and sublime?

“That which we decide shall shape not only our lives, but will reverberate across the boundaries of space and time. What we decide shall affect the future of this nation for years to come, just as it will influence the trajectory of brethren African nations and the entire race of Black people. Our ancestors, they now watch, hoping we do that which is right. Our descendants too watch, praying the same thing.”

“Mastering the art of learning and education is the difficult task nations undertake when they commit themselves to progress. Barebones survival is all a nation can achieve when it disregards this principle. To esteem learning is to follow the gleaming light to prosperity.”

“To revive this nation, we must teach our people as never before done in terms of the scope and quality of the education they receive. That education cannot be of esoteric type that is only beauty in abstract but devoid of practical value in our quest to build and develop the foundations of a new political economy for this nation.”

“Let us honour and fulfill the challenge before us. Let us use the knowledge and experience that ABU and other fine schools have given us to innovate and create new ways to learn new things that will accelerate the development of this nation such that we bring forth an era of prosperity and hope from the challenges that now face us.”

James Sambo