Independence Day and stirring clarion call

Once in a while in the life of a people and nations alike, momentous or epochal events occur every now and then. From the good to the bad to the ugly, from the heartwarming to the ridiculous to the downright shocking all the starts events happen one after the other, challenging all and sundry.
For the typical leader be it local government chairman or state governor or president – such events could be challenging particularly when critical issues such as security, insurgency, public infrastructure, unemployment and inflation are involved. Not to mention a life-and-death matter such as the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) which materialized virtually from the blues recently.
How do you as a leader grapple with such challenges? And how do you address your fellow countrymen and women during an auspicious national day (such as Independence Day) with a view to putting things in proper perspective and rallying them to the common cause? How do you inspire your people at a critical intersection in the journey to the proverbial Promised Land, giving hope to the hopeless and encouragement to the weary?
These and similar posers probably preoccupied the mind of  His Excellency ahead of last week’s Independence Day Celebrations. We are, needless to say, referring to President Goodluck Jonathan on the one hand, and the nation’s 54th Independence anniversary on the other. In line with what has been the trend in the last few years, this year’s ceremony was marked in the presidential Villa in a rather quiet but dignified way.
The reason is not tough to decipher. As the President himself pointed out, this year’s event, like the recent ones, was being marked in the heat of the unprecedented security challenges facing the land of our birth. The raging Boko Haram insurgency in particular has been quite challenging for us as a people, what with thousands of compatriots either killed or maimed, and properties worth billions (if not trillions) of naira destroyed by the devil-may-care terror gang?
Stuck in such a seemingly no-win situation, it is easy to bow the temptation of throwing up our arms and giving up. More so as the insurgents seemed to be gaining the upper hand despite the valliant, patriotic efforts of our gallant soldiers. Against this backdrop, Jonathan’s declaration that the terrorist, would be overcome in the next couple of weeks was as reassuring as it was confident and reassuring.
As is usually on such occasion, His Excellency took time to reflect on our journey so far, particularly in the past few years. The areas he focused on included road construction and renovation of public infrastructure, power sector reforms, the recent National Conference, the new automotive policy, the economy, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the war against terror, to mention just a handful.
Some analysts are of the view that the president was characteristically down-to-earth in his presentation. Without indulging in across the land as dispassionately as he could, enumerating areas Nigeria has spackled in recent times, even as he also mapped out the challenges begging to be tackled.
On security challenges, for example, Jonathan showered encomium on the security and armed forces for doing their best against all odds. According to him, the military chaps have remained as “undaunted and unwearied” as ever despite Boko Haram’s unrelenting assault. Given the remarkable victories recorded by the military in recent weeks in the battle against terror, few would fail not to concede that indeed the government and its security outfits have been living up to expectations in this regard.
What of the National Conference held not so long ago? In the president’s view, the confab was truly a welcome development, given the circumstances of its birth and operation. So much so he branded it as the greatest “centenary gift” to Nigeria. Although the jury is still out on this score, one dares say without fear of contradiction that indeed the confab generally lived up to the expectations of a significant percentage of the people.
In the same vein, Jonathan x-rayed his administration’s performance in road building and infrastructure renovation. Though he conceded that much more still needs to be done before we can shout “Uhuru” by and large government has been fulfilling its obligation in the above critical areas. This, he said, is evident in the ongoing massive road construction projects in various parts of the country, notably, the federal highways.
Electricity has continued to be a Herculean chore for the nation, but in Jonathan’s view, the ongoing power sector reform is going a long way toward solving this seemingly interminable problem. The power generating and distribution companies (which took over from NEPA/PHCN) may be facing teething problems here and there, but it’s evident that ‘Naiji’ is on course to throwing overboard the shackles of power outage, according to His Excellency.
One thing that has kept all and sundry in perpetual suspense of a kind is the forthcoming general elections. At the heart of the make-or-mar exercise is the electoral umpire, INEC. Does its track record vis-à-vis recent elections in many states of the federation give cause for optimism? Answering the poser in the positive, Jonathan expressed confidence in INEC’s ability to conduct a credible and acceptable poll come 2015.
No less worth of note is the federal government’s recently unveiled automotive policy which encourages made-in-Nigeria vehicles. Recall that of the recent centenary celebration in Abuja, the president himself had unveiled some brand new “made in Nigeria” vehicles. All things considered, this policy would catapult Nigeria to the exclusive club of vehicle manufacturing nations sooner or later, Jonathan emphasized.
The bottom-line of Mr. President’s message: granted, things are not as easy as we would have wanted them to be, the nation is not totally out of the woods yet; but even the most ribald pessimist would concede that Nigeria is on the right track to recovery and economic buoyancy. After all, even the advanced nations of the world such as Japan, United Kingdom, USA and others face sundry Herculean challenges every now and then.
Consider the recent Ebola epidemic, for instance. No sooner was the fatal disease brought to Nigeria by a certain Sawyer from Liberia than the federal government mobilized all and sundry to meet the challenge head-on. So much so that before you knew it the epidemic had been contained against all odds. Even the World Health Organization (WHO) expressed much admiration for this uncommon feat.
Translation: if the nation, whose health sector is scarcely reckoned with, could rise up to the Ebola challenge in such a visionary way, only the sky would be our limit in other areas of human endeavour. As Jonathan put it in his Independence broadcast, all it required is total commitment and will.