From Dan Amasingha, Minna

Former Military Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, who midwifed the current democratic dispensation, has admitted that the country is undergoing challenges, but faulted those tagging Nigeria as a failed nation.

The Military leader noted that despite the numerous challenges facing the country, Nigeria cannot be regarded as a failed nation as some are postulating.

General Abdulsalami believed that despite its challenges, Nigeria still command respect among committee of nations, pointing out that Nigeria as a country has its ups and down, that does not make her a failed state.

Speaking on the country’s 60th independence anniversary, General Abdulsalami Abubakar noted that, despite the challenges confronting the Nation ranging from security, economic and political challenges the story is not hopeless as some are painting it, “but that does not make us a failed State, in a true sense of it”.

According to him, “it takes two to tangle. When you say a nation has failed, what causes that failure, you point accusing fingers at the government but who is the government, It’s me and you”.

General who said that it always good to remain positive about the country, maintained that individual contributions is key to nation building, adding “What have we contributed to trying to make the so-called failure. Have we done our citizen’s right, Have we done our citizen’s duty, Are we obeying the law of the country, Are we paying our taxes”, he queried.

“Nigeria has problems, there is insecurity, there is economic situation and so on but does that make us a failed nation, in a true sense, I will say we have problems, are we on the way to being become a failed nation.

It depends on which side you are coming from and where you are looking at. I agree a lot of things could be done better, so if we as a people are having a feeling that we are becoming a failed nation, what are we doing that is making us a failed nation and what is it that we should do to get out of this bad perception.

“Despite our problems in the nation, I think we still command a lot of respect in the commit of the nation and we could do more and the only way to do more is for all of us to put out hands on deck to ensure that we do the right thing.

“What I think we need to do is to sit down and think how we would work as a nation, how there would be more equity and justice as we move forward as a nation, how do we make sure that there is equal representation in all we do and also how do we disabuse the minds of Nigerians in this issue of religion and ethnic differences”.

On those who are glamouring for the country to split, General reminded them that there is strength in togetherness, pointing out that “One thing we should take note of, there is an advantage in unity. Nigeria is being seen today as the biggest black nation in the world and I believe this way, we can make an impact in world politics in ensuring that we represent the black nation in the world and we should have a bigger voice in maintaining this leadership. That can only be achieved when we are together as a nation.

“When we try to split this country, we just become a nonentity; our voice will not be heard. But for Nigeria to remains as one, we must ensure that there are equity and justice and to make sure that there is equal representation as we move ahead”.

To attend greatness as a nation, General pointed out that “we must be a disciplined society. It is very unfortunate that there is still indiscipline in this country.

People don’t obey rules, they do not obey orders, they flaunt anything you can think of, so first of all you must impose self-discipline. Because there is nothing the government can do besides making rules and regulations and it’s not the duty of the government or it’s not nice for the government to start chasing us up and down to make sure we do the right thing”.