New Nigeria Not Achieveable Without Sacrifices – Christopher Kolade

A Former Nigerian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Dr. Christopher Kolade, who on Wednesday shared his thoughts on rebuilding the Nigerian nation while speaking on Sunrise, noted that progress cannot be achieved without sacrifices.

While making reference to leaders who were jailed for agitating for Nigeria’s independence, Kolade said those who desire change in the country will need to make sacrifices.

“If we want to go into the future of this country and think we can just sail into the thing without making sacrifices, then we deceive ourselves”, he said.

As the 2015 election approaches, a need for a better Nigeria has been raised, in the light of several national challenges and set backs, including the leadership deficit in almost all spheres of the nation.

“I think that our problem is that we allow ourselves to look only at the immediate environment and also the short term and to think that whatever we do today is the end for Nigeria”, Kolade explained, stressing that “it’s important for us to put everything in perspective to understand that what we are today; where we are today did not happen without some human input. Therefore, where we are going in the future, will continue to happen by human input.

He commented on the tendency of Nigerians to expect a messiah to save the nation, noting that “God has equipped man to manage the institutions and affairs of this world” and therefore “if we do not actually take the initiative to manage what God has put us in-charge of, then we are wasting the resource that he has put in us”.

Speaking about the need to rebuild Nigeria, Kolade noted that the lack of worthy examples for the younger generation was a major challenge in the nation and further encouraged those who knew the way to go, to speak up.

“Those who have (not just) the knowledge, background, preparation, (but also) the capacity to speak up should do so.”