Fellow Nigerian Comrades:
On behalf of the All Progressives Congress Youth Forum (APYF), I extend warm felicitations on this historic occasion of our nation’s 54th anniversary.
Half a lifetime ago, great men and women – who would someday become legends in our history books – took up the cause of a united, independent and indivisible Nigeria. Half a lifetime later, Nigeria stands as a sovereign nation under the Almighty that is yet to actualize the fullness of its immense potential when it began.
Make no mistake, as we experience the present times, like our founding fathers before us, we stand at the crossroads of an unravelling future – the intersection that divides our two potential futures. The first is that of ‘almost’. This is the potential future of procrastinated glory, under-utilized capabilities, and mismanaged opportunities. This is the future that tells us: ‘if’ instead of ‘when’; and talks in indecisive ‘maybes’, as opposed to taking resolute actions to further the Nigeria that we all crave so desperately. This is the potential future of the past, the same business as usual antics of playing the finger-pointing game, the top-down political game, and the ‘let us remember that we serve the people only before elections’ game. It is the same future that got us here; it is the future that cannot be defined nor reasonably predicted. It is the future that only serves the few as against the full members of the society.
But there is another potential future that we can begin to envisage from now. That is the future that can serve and save the many. The future that takes parts and builds them into wholes. The future that speaks to the heart of the everyday man and woman by making them emotionally invest in it so that they can retire with a saved investment to ensure true happiness. This is the potential future of endless possibility. The potential future of lasting-change that can only be instituted by the people, for the people. The choices are clear: almost and the few, or endless possibilities and the many.
As we pause to take in today’s celebration, let us make out moments to remember the road that we wish to walk on as a nation. Let us turn our sight away from familiar terrain, and take the brave decision of threading on ‘the road less travelled.’ Let us remember that we are not a people of ‘almost’, we are a people of immeasurable potential that can only be actualized by the force of our will, and the spirit of our participation. The time has come to travel. The future begins today. Which road will you elect to travel on? I already know mine. We at the APYF, already know ours.
Happy Independence Day once again! May the Almighty continue to bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
BARRISTER ISMAEEL AHMED. Chairman, APYF
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