A former Aso Villa Chaplain, Prof. Yusuf Obaje, has urged Nigerians to resist the tendency of blaming President Muhammadu Buhari alone for the nation’s socio-economic and other challenges facing the nation.
He said this on Thursday at the Networks and Advances in Computational Technologies (NetACT) Conference in Abuja.
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“What we are going through in the country is not a product of the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari. We have all contributed to this mess. I don’t think we have collectively defined the Nigeria that we want, because to the best of my knowledge, we have no national ideology. This country has no ideological foundation.
“In the last confab, I presented about 68-pages on the need for us to have a national dream that defines what we want to be. Unfortunately, I was told that the paper was for the future. But I then published it with the title: ‘The Nigerian Equation: A Categorical Imperative for National Ideology’.
“Just as it is impossible for any human being to act or behavior in any matter without an idea, it is impossible for any nation to function properly without an ideology, because it is their dream and the idea that inspires, drives, and motivates the citizens. It gives them a goal to look forward to. In the absence of that, we are trying to build a nation on trial and error,” Obaje said.
The former State House chaplain under a former President Olusegun Obasanjo, however, assured Nigerians of God’s plan to return the country to the path of peace and prosperity.
He said that insecurity and other challenges in the land were God’s way of chastising the people and rousing them from slumber.
“I pray that one day we shall wake up, and not only take the blame as something that we have individually and collectively contributed to, but our desire to wake up from our dogmatic slumber and move on to build a nation of our collective dreams.
“In spite of the many warnings in the past, Nigerians had failed to listen, but always end up blaming one another from one generation to another. So, I think the time has come for us to say ‘God, we are sorry. Help us to wake up and rebuild our country’,” he said.
Also, Dr. Folashade Oloyede, who reviewed a new book, ‘African Public Theology’, launched at the conference, said Nigeria, and by extension Africa, was plagued with many unpleasant experiences that often make citizens seek solace in foreign lands.
She, however, challenged religious leaders to use their platforms to contribute towards building the nation the people desired.
On his part, the Intercontinental Chair of NetACT, Prof. Sunday Agang, stressed the need for theological institutions in Nigeria and other African countries to understand the AU Agenda 2063, which seeks to create a democratic, fully developed and united continent where the people’s identity is respected globally.
