The former Minister of Aviation, Osita Chidoka has said Nigerians who travel abroad are able to achieve success in their host countries because of the nation’s diversity.
Chidoka, in a lecture he delivered at the combined graduating ceremony of Coal City University, Enugu, said Nigerians are free and fearless people.
The former minister in a statement by Special Assistant (Media) Ikechukwu Okafor, stated that Nigerians “confidently confront diversity challenges because we live it daily, whether ethnic or religious.
“We confront the world without any sense of inferiority. As a Nigerian, you can live with diversity. We thrive in other countries because our country is a crucible of diversity.”
Chidoka who was also a former Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRCS) told the graduating students “Our country has taught us how to assert ourselves and yet make the necessary compromises, enabling a shared sense of community. Our worst disagreements only magnify the bond that ties us.”
He noted that young people might face ethical dilemmas when there is a dissonance between traditional moral precepts and contemporary moral or social norms.
This dissonance, according to him, could lead to moral ambiguity or conflict affecting their moral disposition but advised them not to be swayed by fleeting gains.
“As you leave the walls of Coal City University, you must embrace optimism. You must walk victoriously with hope. Hope is not naive optimism. To be hopeful is to live,” he added.
Chidoka who spoke on the theme: “Unveiling the Shadows: Deciphering the Moral Ambiguities of Local Aphorisms,” said life is about failures, determination and successes in the midst of challenges.
Using himself as an example, he noted that “heading paramilitary and significant government agency at a young age and delivering widely acknowledged successes that led to my promotion to senior cabinet minister would be considered a successful career in any part of the world”
“But life is not only about fairy tales; my failures also came in torrents. I tried to be a governor of my state without success. Thrice I played significant roles in electing a president, thrice I failed. I took all these in my stride and remained positive, hopeful, passionate, and optimistic.”
He observed that the story of humanity is that of progress despite multiple challenges, citing the progress mankind has made across many indices globally.
“In 1950, the average life expectancy at birth was only 48.5 years. In 2019, it was 72.8 years. That’s an increase of 50 percent. Out of every 1,000 live births in 1950, 20.6 children died before their fifth birthday. That number was only 2.7 in 2019. That’s a reduction of 87 percent.
“These data are testimony that human progress, though not inevitable, is possible; the Nigeria of our dreams is also possible if we work for it”, Chidoka said.
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