The Chairman of Northern Governors’ Forum and Niger State Governor, Dr Babangida Aliyu, has called on Nigerians to imbibe the true tenets of citizenship and channel their energies to nation building.
Aliyu said in a statement issued today in Minna by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Israel Ebije, to mark Democracy Day, that the nation requires more cohesion to be able to overcome current challenges.
“Nigerians must imbibe the true tenets of citizenship, which must reflect tolerance, brotherhood and understanding of the complexities of the different groups that makes up the country.’’
He also urged Nigerians to ensure that henceforth their leaders emerge based on merit and ability to achieve the collective vision of the country.
The forum’s chairman lamented over the absence of morality in the present crop of leaders, who were often selfish and creating void between them and the people.
“We must therefore leverage on this year’s democracy day to ensure that Nigerians are truly democratised not only by name but by content of character.
“We must eschew action that will plunge us into abysmal fall.
“We must continue to work against forces of darkness, to chat a golden path to our developmental aspiration under a peaceful and united atmosphere based on the tenets of religious chastity,” he said.
Meanwhile, Gov. Sule Lamido of Jigawa said massive investment made by his administration in the last seven years had helped to drastically cut down the rate of maternal mortality in the state.
Lamido, in a speech to mark the 2014 Democracy Day on Thursday in Dutse, said that the provision of roads across rural communities had improved access to health facilities for maternal care.
He recalled that before now, most pregnant women rely on carts to move out of their villages to access hospitals services, with most of them dying in the process.
“Imagine a pregnant woman being taken to hospital in a cart, imagine the pains of labour coupled with movement on a bad road.
“But today women are being taken to hospital in cars as all roads in our major towns and villages are now motorable”.
