Ademola Adeyemo and Charles Ajunwa
5 November 2009
Lagos — Imo State Governor Ikedia Ohakim has appealed to the media to set a new agenda for Nigeria if the country must take her pride of place among the comity of nations.
He also said his defection from the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was not his making, but the decision of the entire people of Imo.
Speaking during a visit to THISDAY Corporate Headquarters in Apapa yesterday, Ohakim, who said there was hope that Nigeria would be great giving her abundant human and material resources, added that what remained was to create the right atmosphere for the country to reach the Promised Land.
He called for cooperation from Nigerians in order to build a country which would be the pride of Africa and the world.
According to him, "Another thing I want to say is that you need to begin to set a new agenda for this country. This country requires motivation. This country requires all hands to be on deck. This country is the best country I have ever seen in the world with human and material resources, what it requires is the chemistry to mix it together to be able to move.
"I brought a magazine here, which this is the latest edition of Times magazine. The headline is 'Why California Is Still America's Future'. If I will recast it and bring it to our environment, I will say 'Why Nigeria Is Still Africa's Future'. And if we take it as our by-line and begin to market it, you will agree with me that things will move forward."
The governor also appealed to the media to refrain from overemphasizing the negative aspect of Nigeria, saying no country in the world is free from negative tendencies.
"Another thing is that we overemphasise the negative aspect. I just came in from Southern Africa. In South Africa today, you cannot find ATM machine in any public place again. They were the first people to introduce the ATM machine. Those of you who travel will observe what I'm saying. You cannot see any ATM machine; they have been vandalized by burglars. But if you go around Lagos, you see ATM machines in hotels and other public places and they are still there; nothing is happening to them. So, we should be able to emphasise the good things about our country. The good things about our performance and then be able to look at those who can run the ball," he said.
Explaining why he defected to the PDP, he said: "We cannot afford to be in opposition; we have to be in the mainstream for us to move forward and deliver the dividends of democracy to our people. In taking the decision, I had the support of the entire members of the House of Assembly and all the stakeholders in the state behind me that is why we don't have any regret taking the decision. If I did not have a political arrangement with the PDP, PPA could not have won election in Imo State."
Ohakim said he was in Lagos to thank THISDAY for rating him one of the best governors in Nigeria. He said: "I thank you for the support you have been giving to my programmes and administration and cross-pollinate ideas with you on issues that will be for the common interest of the government and the people."
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