An annual event
to mark the 55th Nigerian independence Day Anniversary was celebrated in grand style where a front
line group in the projection of National unity, tagged I Believe In Nigeria
Group stressed the need for a united Nigeria with a value system and culture
that looks beyond now.
Addressing mammoth
of patriots who believe in the course Nigeria in Awka, Anambra state capital, the
coordinator of the group, I Believe In Nigeria (IBIN) Mr Ken Okoli urged youths
to draw support from all and sundry to priotize project Nigeria as an entity
that must not die even in the face of notable challenges of insurgency. and secessionism.
A copy of the
release made available to newsmen reads as follows.
To put an end to
this and usher in a new nation, we embarked on a research which lasted for a period
of ( i.e 2006 — 2015 ). The main objective of our research was to identify a
set of core values that will define a new Nigerian project thus removing the distortion
and disarticulations associated with the old Nigeria and guide us on how to
build the kind of nation that we believe in for the present and future
generations.
The New
Nigerian Project
Every nation in
the world is an idea or a project and Nigeria is not an exception. Before a
nation works for common good it must have a set of core values built on the people's
belief system. The belief is the citizens' power to build or destroy any nation.
Since 1914 to 2014 Nigeria has remained a country without any set of core
values built on the people's belief system which is the cause of continued existence
of the too many distortion and disarticulations associated with Nigeria.
Our effort paid off
with the outcome of our research which was produced in a book titled "I
Believe”. The book of I BELIEVE has provided a new framework for a global model
of good governance that can guide every set of citizens to build their nation for
common good.
As we mark our
55th independence anniversary on this day being the 1st October 2015, we
declare our belief in Nigeria using the I BELIEVE book as a symbol of our faith
in the Nigerian project. We believe in Nigeria.
The Nigerian
project we believe in is not defined by territory, tribes or religions. It is
defined by a set of core values that inspire the citizens' belief and
perceptions to work for the common good of the society, everywhere they go or live
in. The core values are 1. Fear of God, 2. Patriotism, 3. Self-reliance, 4.
Discipline, 5. Life, 6. Truth, 7. Liberty, 8. Justice, 9. Community, 10.
Dignity of Labour, 11. Religious and ethnic Tolerance and 12. Love.
As we prepare to
build a great Nigeria nation there are key institutions that will help us to
achieve that as we perceive them as tools for nation building. Those
institutions are 1. Citizenship institution, 2. The Family institution, 3. The
Religious institution, 4. The Educational institution, 5. The Business
institution, 6. The Community institution and 7. The Government institution. As
we begin the journey of building a great Nigerian nation, we will adopt a
paradigm shift approach which involves certain processes. The key processes are
1. Belief, 2. Perception, 3. Action and 4. Result. As we inaugurate the IBIN
Group today, the new founding fathers of the New Nigeria Project have emerged.
The new Nigeria Project now evokes a new global model of good governance in our
minds. We are the change agents for a new society committed to transforming Nigeria
to work for our common good. By the
inauguration of the IBIN Group, the "Coming Power Elite" predicted by
Most Rev. Fr. Matthew H. Kukkah in his article written to mark Nigeria's 49th
Independence anniversary, "The Initiates" written about Professor
Zaynab Alkali in her book titled: "The Initiates" and the goodwill
message on the Nigerian Project written by Professor Ben Osisioma have all come
to fulfilment.
Let the nation-building
journey begin. Let those who believe in Nigeria go on to declare their belief
in Nigeria as a mark of leadership and the beginning of the change process.
I Believe In
Nigerian: Nigeria is ours
and Nigeria we serve.
The high point of
the event took off with the founders call to the people to assert their leadership
authority as followers and the people who in their judgement and fearlessness speak
up, take a stand on bad government and move towards emphasizing their power to
decide the faith of the elected.
Contrary to
speculations that Nigeria is associated with fraud, kidnapping and drug
trafficking, Mr. Ken Okoli blamed it on the poor leadership qualities of
yesteryear which he said has dominated the foreign scene and caused a lot of misinformation and confusion that has been
detrimental to the growth of our nascent democracy when compared to other
advanced countries who have learnt how to make their people and system work for
them with renewed effort that can only be said to have been handed down by
successive leaders.
Our reporter who later
had to interview Mr Ken Okoli asked questions that were pertinent to the growth
of the nation and the life of the project and the event being one that had more
than duality of purpose is indeed a timely one, as it could not have held at a better
date or national event than the one it had represented and responded to.
Nigeria Has
Known More Failures, Who Is To Blame?
We are no longer
interested in seeing that when a governor finishes his tenure EFCC will be pursuing that person, if any
governor fails, the state has failed, if the state has failed, the nation has
failed, Africa has failed, if Africa has failed, the world has failed.
What Do We Do
To Change These Trends?
We are going to
start now to tell ourselves that we are involved, all of us are involved and
our involvement has started.
Don't You Think
lts A Game of Politics?
Politics,
politics, politics, one more word we will use to replace it us governance and
introducing this value system.
You Sound
Optimistic About Values?
No country in
Africa has this set of values, you may take it as if its a small thing but am
letting you know that this thing is bigger than us.
How Do You
Hope To Imbibe This Value?
When a child is
born and l carry the child and say I Believe In Nigeria. Nigeria is bigger than
everyone of us but one thing that we would never allow to happen is that
Nigeria will never be called in a derogatory way because that Nigeria is a
reflection of our belief system.
How Will These
Belief Systems Work?
In our belief system
the first value we have is the fear of God and the last one there is love. We
are manifesting a greatness even as we live.
You Seem To
See Africa's Domination?
Yes. America
might be calling the shot today but we are planting a global community that we
will not see it but it will come to pass because Africa is the bottom line
where the new leadership will emerge at the global community. That's why we are
saying we believe, soon other countries will be saying they believe, I Believe
in Ghana, I Believe in South Africa, I Believed in Cameroon, it will happen.
Is This a
declarative Statement That Nigeria will Be Rid Of Crime?
Well the truth
about it is that, you can not remove crime entirely from a society, thats the
truth but a society that is inclusive will reduce crime to its barest minimum.
There are certain factors that induce crime there are ones that we cause ourselves
and there are ones that as a result of human nature, people will see themselves
committing crimes for reasons best known to them. But with I Believe In
Nigerian, the group will go as far as building these values into the
citizenship institution we have which is a vital one that can build that can build
other institutions, so we are taking it there down to the children in their
infancy, adolescence down to their adulthood, those values will guide you as a
compass in that persons behaviour to live right, the point am trying to make is
that, through propagating these values inspire the Nigeria nation in otherwards
making Nigeria a greater Nation.