The Catholic Bishop of Oyo Diocese, Most Reverend Emmanuel Adetoyese Badejo has posited that despite 60 years of Nigeria’s Independence, the country still lacks authentic Independence.

According to him, Nigeria must fight for Independence anew.

The Bishop, in a press release made available to CEOAFRICA, said Nigeria is the most blessed country in the world, noting that we should not leave it to God alone to save the country, but we need to also work towards changing the country by changing our attitudes that could hinder the progress of the country.

“As Nigeria marks her 60th anniversary from that day in 1960 when it was declared independent, I join other Nigerians to thank God that Nigeria, this ailing giant entity of stunted potentiality, still exists. God deserves that much. Nigerians must stop saying that only God can save their country. God has done more for Nigeria than he has done for other countries. Other countries only use God’s grace far better than us. In fact, what we have to celebrate is, God’s goodness and nothing else."

Despite Nigeria celebrating her 60th years of Independence, Bishop, Most Reverend Emmanuel maintained that Nigeria is still battling with a lot of challenges ranging from insecurity, violence, insurance, corruption, unemployment, amongst others.

According to him, the problems might still not eclipse the hopes of an independent Nigeria. “The strength of the nation’s diversity and the combined force of its people, could still overcome any challenge if the very leaders who should nurture the country’s cohesion were not working against it,” he added.

Pointing out the favouritism in the federal and national appointments in the President Buhari-led administration, Bishop Emmanuel said “Nigerians believed that President Muhammadu Buhari would be different when in his inaugural speech in 2015, he said that he belonged to everybody and to nobody. How very wrong they were! he noted, expressing that the President has since put in place the most divisive regime of lop-sidedness and marginalization in appointments and recruitments to favour the northern part of Nigeria.”

“The latest evidence is in the recent lopsided appointments in the Nigerian Customs Service, a major parastatal in the country. In a barefaced manner and in such a multi religious and ethnically diverse country as Nigeria, seven senior positions there all went to Northern Muslims. This is to say the least, bizarre. I call on the President to lead the charge for the restoration of equity, fairness and balance in appointments and recruitments in Nigeria in order to restore the federal character of Nigeria and the confidence of the people and to exploit the strength that can be found in national unity.”

However, he charges Nigerians that as we celebrate 60 years anniversary, we should continue to lift our voices to God in prayers.