Speeches

‘As A Nation Thinketh, So Is She’

Dec 31, 2008 - Our country is on the march towards fulfilling our manifest destiny as we join the rest of the world in ushering in the New Year, 2009. The New Year is one of great expectations for us. It is one in which the whole world is watching to see how quickly we can begin to actualize our immense potentials as a country. Surely, we owe it a duty to the black race and posterity to transform this enormously endowed country into a prosperous, secure and efficient society that can hold a place of pride in the comity of nations.

At the beginning of this New Year, I commend to us all, fellow compatriots, the words of that sublime philosopher, James A. Allen, who declared that “As a man thinketh, so is he”. Every human being’s life is a function of the sum total of his or her innermost thoughts. Think positively and your circumstances will most likely assume a positive outlook. Think negatively and most likely you will drown in a wave of negative circumstances. As it is with individuals so I believe it is with nations. As a nation thinketh, so is she. Only our dreams can limit us.

2009 is a very crucial one for us in Nigeria . It is just eleven years to 2020 and six years to 2015, our set target for meeting the Millennium Development Goals. To make any reasonable progress towards meeting these objectives, we must fundamentally alter the way we think. Too often, we have allowed ourselves to be branded negatively; we have allowed others to define us and pigeon hole us unfairly as a people. This attitude must change because “As a nation thinketh, so is she”.

There is one lesson I believe we can all learn from the last US elections. The election campaigns focused largely on the problems of America; problems of inaccessible health care, declining standards in education, a huge budget deficit, moral decay and degeneration of values and other symptoms of economic crisis to name a few. Yet, none of the candidates in the campaign ever defined America in terms of these challenges. Rather, at every point they defined America in terms of her innate greatness and capacity to overcome the challenges. They believed firmly that what ever was wrong with America could eventually be overcome by what is right and great about America .

Why should it be any different with us? Why should we allow ourselves to be branded and defined by the challenges of corruption, insecurity, poverty and other challenges confronted in varying degrees by virtually every nation on earth, including some of the most powerful and prosperous? Let us learn to define ourselves by those strengths that will enable us to overcome our weaknesses; by those virtues in the vast majority of our people that will ultimately enable us to overcome the vices of a negligible percentage of our population. Let us begin to define and project our national image by the millions of remarkably resilient, hard working and faithful men and women all over the country working from morning till night, many in difficult circumstances, to feed and maintain their families.

It is time for us to approach nation building with the seriousness it deserves. Let us stop replacing failed institutions with new ones just because they can easily be created. The reality is that each institution that failed means that people have failed. We must learn to tackle the problem with a solution approach rather than an avoidance approach. Problems will not go away except they are solved and creating new institutions without correcting the human lapses that incapacitated the failure of old ones will get us nowhere.

The progress of our nation without doubt depends substantially on the seriousness, focus, vision and discipline of those of us in leadership positions. But then, equally critical is the need for each one of us, no matter our stations in life, to discover the leader within us and exercise a positive influence in our own little sphere of existence.

And for the good people of Lagos State , I assure you that we intend to sustain and even accelerate the pace of our infrastructure and environmental renewal program in the New Year. In the course of doing this, we may be called upon to make sacrifices or bear inconveniences. We will continue to count on your good will, support and cooperation at all times.

I wish you all a very blessed, happy and prosperous New Year.

BABATUNDE FASHOLA (SAN)
GOVERNOR, LAGOS STATE