A Bridge Builder Comes to Lagos
By Solomon Ibharuneafe
Monday, May 02, 2005
Governor Abdullahi Adamu, at the annual lecture of the Ikeja Country Club, Lagos, advocates dialogue as a way of promoting economic development in Nigeria
The Ikeja Country Club last week held its 2005 annual lecture series. The theme of the lecture was "Building Bridges: The challenges of social and economic development in Nigeria." Governor Abdulahi Adamu of Nassarawa State who delivered the lecture said the continuing dialogue between political leaders and the private sector was a way of building bridges for a rapid economic development of the country. The Nassarawa State govenor emphasised that the economy was so important to human development that it now defines the agenda of all modern nations. He said all nations were pre-occupied with the sound and progressive management of their economics stressing that economic power had replaced military might as the defining attribute of a nation.
He said Japan, Singapore and South Korea described as the Asian Tigers were today recognised as first countries not for their military might or conquest but for their considerable economic muscle as modern, industrialised nations. "As Nigerians, we are naturally anxious for our country to experience similar economic miracle and transformation," he said.
Governor Adamu said the topic, building bridges was not about building overhead bridges or flyovers in Lagos or Abuja but about the missing link in our national efforts to rise to the challenges of nation-building, economic and social development. It is about the disconnection the nation experiences each time new leaders at national and state levels take over the reins of government, about our individuals and collective dissatisfaction with the progress this nation had made so far compared with other third world countries that gained independence or started their developmental journey at about the same time with Nigeria. He explained that but doing bridges was about a new thinking about where we are, where we wish to be and how we wish to get there. That bridge is the meeting point between words and action, the link between, yesterday and today and between today and tomorrow," he said.
Adamu seems not to be happy with the progress so far made by Nigeria in its 44 years of independence. Even with the huge human and natural resources, the indices of under-development, he said, were still very visible. The United Nations Human Development Index he explained, ranked Nigeria number 152 out of 177 countries describing the phenomenon as a painful paradox. "No one of us is happy with this state of affairs he said noting that nobody can understand why the nation was unable to sort out such basic problems as steady power and water supply inspite of all the past and present efforts to put the problems behind us. He is optimistic that Nigeria would pull itself out of the rot to become a model for African progress and development and not to slide back into a decline let alone a state of a bewildered nation.
While commending the current efforts of the President Olusegun Obasanjo administration for going in the right direction, these efforts he said would come to nothing if the rest of the people think the challenge is entirely the business of government and not of the people themselves. He said the challenges that Nigeria faces were not bigger or more critical than those that faced other countries at our level of development and if those countries overcame, so shall we.
Olayinka Ogunmekan, president of the club praised the governor for the brilliant lecture he delivered. "He was forthright, and straight forward in his presentation," he said. He called on the governor to do more to build more bridges across adding that he would win the support of most Nigerians if he goes for higher position in his political career.
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