At 66, Nigeria stands as a testament to a simple truth: unity is not our aspiration, it is our achievement. We are a nation of 625 languages, diverse faiths and distinct cultures stretching from the Sahel to the Atlantic. Yet every morning, one flag rises. One anthem is sung. One destiny binds over 220 million people. That is not an accident of geography; it is the triumph of unity over division.
For too long, the merchants of division have profited from telling us what separates us. They sell regional sentiment, ethnic fear, and religious suspicion. But 66 years has proved them wrong. Our market woman in Kogi trades with a supplier from Aba. Our farmer in Kebbi feeds a family in Bayelsa. Our youth in Jos codes for a company in Lagos. Nigeria works when Nigerians work together.
This is the core agenda that the All Progressives Congress APC has championed: national cohesion over sectional interest. The Renewed Hope Agenda is not a regional manifesto; it is a national compact. Infrastructure that connects Lagos to Kano, Calabar to Sokoto, is not about where you are from, but where we are all going. Social investments, security reforms and economic policies that lift one part of Nigeria ultimately lift all parts, because we rise together or we do not rise at all.
The world does not have many examples of a country so diverse that has stayed so united for so long. That resilience is our greatest natural resource, greater than oil or gas.
As we celebrate Nigeria @ 66, the lesson is clear. Our languages may be many, but our voice must be one. Our cultures may be diverse, but our commitment must be singular. When we choose unity over division, work over sentiment, and nation over region, there is no limit to what Nigeria can become.
One Country. One Destiny.
SIGNED:
Hon. Taufiq Isa (JAGABAN),
Director-General,
Kogi State Utility Infrastructure Management and Compliance Agency (KUIMCA)
