FROM REFORM TO PROSPERITY: INDEPENDENCE DAY ADDRESS TO THE NATION
My fellow Nigerians,
Sixty-six years ago today, our flag was raised, for the first time, over a free and sovereign nation. For sixty-six years, we have journeyed together as one nation, bound by our collective trust in the great promise of Nigeria: that a country of our size, our bountiful resources, our cultural diversity and, above all, our extraordinary people can build a giant in Africa. That in this blessed and fertile land we can build a united, strong and prosperous nation; a land of regional authority and global consequence.
Our journey has not always been easy. In truth, it has generally been too hard for too many. We have known moments of great hope and periods of profound disappointment. We have endured war, military rule, economic crises, insecurity and political upheaval. Yet through it all, Nigeria, with the indomitable spirit of its people, has endured.
It has endured through the efforts of the farmer who rises before dawn to work his land. The trader who opens her shop each morning with hope for a productive day. The teacher who believes in the children entrusted to her care and the young entrepreneur who refuses to surrender ambition to circumstance. We are grateful for the men and women of our Armed Forces and security services who place themselves in harm’s way so that the rest of us may live in peace.
Through every difficulty, generations of Nigerians have continued to believe in one thing: that this country of ours, will be better.
This faith, which sustains us all, is the inheritance of independence. Our founding fathers did not struggle merely for a flag, an anthem or a place among the nations of the world. Independence carried a larger promise: that Nigerians would have the freedom to shape their own destiny and build a nation capable of providing opportunity, dignity and a better life for its people. Sixty-six years.
NTA News
