OUR LAND SHALL BE RESTORED, IF:

Before the current democratic dispensation was made possible by God in 1999.  There was  no doubt that the country have been considered dead and in fact already abandoned by many nations of the world , but since then, how much life do we really have? Even now, so many aspects of our life are yet to be fully restored, Nigeria is sick with Bribery and Corruption, Insecurity, Kidnapping and Unemployment, our educational sector is collapsing and the social infrastructure are in a state of disrepair. May God continue to be merciful on us, heal our land and restore our nation to full life.

But in order to really restore our land to a befitting one these are some of the thing we as a nation must take cognizant of;

It is pertinent that we avoid all forms of sins including the seven social sins enumerated by Mahatma Gandhi, namely: Politics without principle, Wealth without work, Pleasure without conscience, knowledge without character, Business without morality, Science without humanity and worship without sacrifice. With all these sffort on the part of out leaders and on the part of each Nigeria, we shall truly be on the pathway to an authentic peace and lasting unity.

Every form of unwholesome attitude either by individuals or group of people, that may engulf the nation in an avoidable religion or political crisis, must always be instantly addressed. With God on our side, we shall surely reach the Promised Land, and our dream of a peaceful state will be a reality.

We need to re-affirm our commitment to building a democratic country. While we encourage our people to remain committed to the principles of democracy, we need to appeal to all our politicians to place the survival of our country before partisan political interests and consideration. We must note that first, there has to be a nation before we can conduct elections. Democracy ought to offer a level playing field in which every citizen should feel free to aspire to any political offices in the land. We must therefore hold the member of the political class, squarely responsible for ensuring the stability of our dear nation. While we subscribe to the freedom of speech as a democratic right guaranteed in our constitution, we must condemn in strong terms, the provocative, incendiary, unguarded, and partisan utterances that threaten our nation corporate existence.

I am strongly of the opinion that the time has come where we must put the analysis of the causes and whys of our national disunity and disorderliness behind us and begin to implement some already suggested way that can bring the nation on the path to national unity and peaceful of social order. All of us from the greatest to the smallest must have a change of attitude, embrace the culture of peace and courageously speak the truth to ourselves. We must all responsible for the transformation we all desire.

We must each se the necessary connection between working for unity, peace and genuine respect for truth wherever that truth is found. Permit me to re-echo the persistent call of the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) in relation to the country’s lasting peace and unity. According to them:

-         “It should be quite clear that if we want lasting peace, we must work for justice. Peace is indivisible: either there is peace for everyone or there is no peace at all. Therefore, the government should ensure that there is peace for every Nigeria”.

We all must demonstrate our commitment to peace in our state beyond mere talk shop and endless discussion. I believe that dialogue, exchange of ideal and discussion can help, but effort should not stop there, it must actually proceed to real actions. Such actions, no doubt can bring suffering to those involved but such are the sacrifices we must make for the proper enthronement of peace. If we don’t want to make any sacrifice, we can as well forget about having a lasting peace or a progressive state. We must all be ready to sacrifice anything for the peace especially for the benefit of the coming generation.

Finally, we must turn to God who alone the needed graces and crowns human effort with success to help us. I will still recommend the prayers that the Catholic composed, many years ago for Nigeria in distress and the one against bribery and corruption in Nigeria. If we work change our attitudes and pray, we shall surely see an end to the current problems we are facing as a nation and our fledging democracy will begin to mature and be properly consolidated. We have God’s promise for that, and He is always faithful (cf.2chr.7:14-15)
Change Agents In An Emerging Democratic Process (1)