Nigeria has great potentials to be greater than any country in europe
By Gbenga Adeoye
The first secret of greatness is to know what you have in and around you in comparison with other successful men you can see far and near.
Some countries in the world have so many things working against them but in the midst of such glaring disadvantages, they have been able to come out as great countries.
Things that you see to know that a country is great are not too many.
I am of the view that these 7 things if found in a country, then that country can be said to be Great :
1.Easy and cheap access to Food, clothing, portable water and shelter
2.Justice, Equity and Fairness.
3.Access to free or Affordable Education and Healthcare.
4.Security of lives and properties.
5.Availability of Employment for different levels of skills and education.
6.Electricity in both urban and rural areas.
7.Access to easy and Safe Transport System.
These 7 Cardinal things seems to be the focus of all of us on earth .We do not really need or ask for too many things.
Once you can get all these.Then you are fine.
OUR POTENTIALS.
1.Nigeria has good landscape.From the rain forest to green Savannah.Growing food is like an endowment from God.
What you cannot grow in the south, is available in the north.
Hence food should not be a problem in our country.
Water should also not be a problem.
In some countries, they see rain only 9 times a year.The sun does not shine for more than half of the year in some parts of the world.They are in darkness for the better of the year.Snow is like sand in some places for months ..Yet they are able to make it.
We are just blessed beyond explanation.
We have the sea and other water resources.
We can process to drink, we can use for irrigation.
Sea never dry.God have been so good to us.
From our natural resource on land, we can grow cotton and and so clothing is not a problem for us if we are deliberate .What a blessed country.!!!.
2.We have solid and strong land that if we intend to build High- Rises in most states, we can.Hence providing shelter for our people becomes easy.
Land is also available for us.Our terrain is wonderfully made.
I saw how difficult it is to build houses in some parts of Italy, yet they manage to build houses and constructed roads to access those houses around rocks and hills.
We have all it takes to build .
3.Nigerians are so intelligent that if we bring back our egg heads from around the world, they can produce the best doctors, engineers, Lawyers, Accountants, Builders, Computer Experts, Pilots and many more .
We are supposed to be the Basket of High Quality Education.We have all it takes.Nigerians are too intelligent.
If we do not see it manifest at home, you just need to read report and news in US and other places where Nigerians are performing wonders in different fields.
4.By nature as Africans, we are family oriented people.We know ourselves. This is a great asset to achieving security.
We can leverage on that to create data base.
Once we have a good data base, we should be fine.All that we then do is to monitor everyone.
Crimes is local and with our family nature, we can address internal security easily.We have great potentials unlike in some other countries where you do not even know your neighbours.
Here we greet our. Neighbours. We cook and send food to neighbours.That is the way Africans are raised.It is an added advantage that can solve security problem.We are loving and we enjoy social interactions.
5.With our Natural resources, it should not be difficult to create jobs in Nigeria.
From Agricultural potentials to Mineral resources in oil and gas and many more.We have all it takes to industrialise Nigeria and hence create jobs.
6.With access to hydro and gas resources , we should be looking for countries that will buy our excess electricity. We do not have any excuse.
7.God so blessed us with water ways, good landscape and sky for Transportation.
When you see where rail lines pass through in some countries, you will just know that we are blessed as a country.
Our Airports should be developed beyond the current jokes all over the country.
One day, this country will become a strong one as we do all it takes to turn these numerous potentials into infrastructure for our people.
The effect of all these resources is that the Government will have huge Tax to generate at all levels.
Let no one join people to say otherwise, Nigeria is a blessed country.We have so many things in our favour.
All we need to address is Management of these resources in a proper way by men and women who will set rules of engagement and control the system towards the main goals for the common good of the people which is Public wealth, Justice, fairness and equity .
Item number two is so crucial to Unity which is Justice, Equity and Fairness .Courts must be a place of justice Lawyers must not be liars.Police must be very conscious of their role to protect life and maintain Law and order.
The day we get it right, Europe will pursue us but they will not be able to catch us on that journey of development.
Since our country is blessed; Nigerians are blessed. May our blessings be made manifest in our lifetime.Amen.
The Author
Dr.Gbenga Adeoye holds a PhD in Management Accounting, a Bachelors Degree in Law( LLB).
An MSc.in Banking and Finance, a Diploma in Criminology and Security Studies,
He also holds a Post Graduate Diploma in International Business Law from The University of London.
He is Passionate about Social & Economic Development of Africa and Nigeria.
He believes the quality of people in leadership determines development in any country.
He is the founder and Principal Partner of Gbenga Adeoye & Co.(Chartered Accountants)
He is a member of Egba Economic Summit and Nigerian Economic Summit Group.
He is also a contributor to National Policy on Taxation, Development Economics and Good Governance.
He is the founder of Gbenga Adeoye Foundation; an NGO focused on the eradication of poverty, ignorance and sickness in Nigeria especially in the rural areas.
He can be reached via e mail : [email protected]
