Bauchi State Governor Bala Abdullkadir Muhammed, has expressed concern over some Nigerians who for whatever reason, most often than not, have developed the habit of criticising, condemning than commending whatever is Nigerian.
He pointed out that what they do includes negative and disturbing concocted stories about leaders and the country that is seriously de-marketing the country before the international community and prospective investors.
According to him, this lack of sense of patriotism is part of the factors that slow development of the country. Governor Bala made the remark recently while speaking to journalists, at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa International Airport, Bauchi,where he said on the contrary, Nigerians are innovative, hardworking, industrious and extremely intelligent beyond any iota of doubt.
“As Nigerians, we are enterprising, organised and so, we must push agenda for values and reel out positive stories to make a difference”, he said
“I always feel proud; I raise my shoulders high anywhere in the world as a proud Nigerian that believes in everything Nigerian”.
Governor Bala Muhammed added that: “There is that spirit called the Nigerian spirit, which is resilient, hardworking and innovative. But the problem with some Nigerians is that they consciously fail to speak beautifully about their country and the leadership as if we are a failed generation cursed by our ancestors which is not the case”
While admonishing Nigerians to believe in themselves and the country and confess positive things about the country, Governor Bala said: “Why should we always allow others to tell our stories for us while we have the capacity and the technicality at our disposal for positive use? The social media and the other conventional media should always be positively used instead of using them for misinformation, distortion of facts, hate, falsehood, and half-truths.
“The world is so diverse and there is the need to break the walls; there should be a paradigm shift from consumption to aggressive production. Nigeria is a safe destination for investment and that lends credence to our efforts for security to lives and property and a healthy environment”, he added.
According to the governor, there is absolutely nothing wrong or offensive for people to criticise their leaders and the system with facts, not the usual wishful thinking or crass ignorance of policy implementation. He insisted that such criticism must always be in corrective ways tailored for the good of all that will support the efforts of leaders to perform better.
Commenting on his second term blue-print for Bauchi State, he said: “We have accomplished several feats in our first tenure which were acknowledged by the people that served as our launching pad for the landslide victory we recorded in the March 18th election. We shall redouble our efforts in our second tenure for lasting legacies for posterity to be fair to us.”
