BENIN CITY – A Professor of Development Economics and retired Director of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Prof. John Abhuere has premised that Nigeria can be great again and conveniently measure up in the comity of nations, if the elites in the political firmament decide to do the needful and embrace unity of purpose.

Prof. Abhuere who made the assertion recently in Benin City on the occasion of his 71st birthday, emphasised that “this country Nigeria has all the potentials to be a very great country.”

“We have every human and material resource in terms of capacity and God-given endowments that can make the country compete favourably with every advanced country in the world.”

According to him, “we have the competent population and natural resources across the entire national jurisdiction to support our development; but need purposeful leadership, justice and the receptive political disposition to accommodate the diverse geo-political ideology as in the case of the United States of America.”

Prof. Abhuere, who is also the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Child Care and Youth Development Centre (CCYDC), said 52 years after the Nigerian Civil war; Nigerians are still very sceptical to sufficiently reconcile the South Eastern zone for example, into the National political leadership, thereby denying them the opportunity to aspire to become the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This, he said is injustice, particularly after other major geo-political zones have had their opportunities in leading the country.

He therefore urged the youths and indeed Nigerians to shun any act capable of criminalising their activities and learn to imitate positive role models in the continuous efforts to build the country into an enviable and collective heritage.

Speaking at the event, Prof. Marcel Okhakhu amongst other dignitaries emphasised that most Nigerians want to always live in their comfort zones, without making efforts to openly criticise policies that are retrogressive to collective development.

He advised the youths to be nationalistic in their thinking and always avoid the tendency to develop escape route to success; as only hard work and determination can create room for legitimate success and enduring growth.

Highlight of the occasion was the presentation of tributes by friends, family and well wishers, group photograph as well as cutting of the cake to mark the birthday.