Anyaoku, Nwodo, others seek national rebirth, restructuring

Former Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Emeka Anyaoku, has canvassed a return to the country’s lost values, which placed character and integrity above wealth acquisition.

Anyaoku made the call at a dinner organised in Lagos by Sigma Club, University of Ibadan, in honour of the President General of Ohaneze Ndigbo, John Nwodo. He condemned today’s reality, which makes children and adults not to recognise that hard work should be embraced by everyone.

Anyaoku explained that the collapse of the age-long value system of integrity, hard work and patriotism has given way to the increased wave of corruption and the preference for get-rich-quick syndrome in the society.

He said: “Corruption is the greatest under-miner of our national development and it is a consequence of the absence of those societal values. In our society today, the prevailing culture is that children and adults no longer recognise that success must come from hard work. They no longer recognize that integrity should be more valued than the possession of wealth.”

He canvassed the extension of Sigma Club’s motto to all the tertiary institutions in the country. Nwodo in an interview said the level of the abuse of fundamental rights in the country’s political system had led to a state of dissatisfaction, anger and impatience among the youths.

He stressed that some tribes are treated as unwanted species, despite the provision of federal character and equal representation in the country’s Constitution. According to Nwodo, there was no need for a bill on grazing reserve, adding what the Federal Government should have done was to ask states to create the reserves and confine the herdsmen to the reserve for a fee.

“This is a federation. It is only by bringing the issues of national security into the open that we could remove nepotism and face the facts squarely, which is the only way to national reconstruction.”

Foremost Niger/Delta leader, Edwin Clark, former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi, Ayo Banjo, Prof. Pat Utomi, Jim Nwobodo, Prof. Biyi Afonja were among those that attended the event.

In his remarks, Prof. Biyi Afonja, the oldest Sigma Club member, stressed that the vision of the founding fathers of the club, which was to further unity, must be adopted to solve the challenge of unity facing the country.