Nigeria is in dire need of people of strong character whose positive contribution is needed towards economic and political development of the country, Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, said on Sunday.
The Acting President said this while speaking at the 50th anniversary of the death of Ambassador Isa Wali, organized by the Isa Wali Empowerment Initiative (IWEI) in Abuja.
“Our nation is in need of people who stand for human values, those who believe in trust-worthiness, integrity, honesty and hardwork.
“We need to have those values and emphasize them because these are values that build nation’s around the world. Our nation need more of visionary men and women that are ready to put the nation ahead of them,” he said.
He said the country can become a nation everyone would be proud of if the citizens to stand for values necessary for progress.
Osinbajo described the late Wali as a crusader of social justice like the late Martin Luther King of the United States of America and Nelson Mandela of South Africa who fought for the rights of the ordinary people in their countries.
While stressing that people with such values were not lacking in the country, they needed to be identified and allowed to contribute to nation building.
He said the late Wali was a man who had a good sense of justice and shared some universal set of values that have helped in global development.
“Ambassador Wali was well ahead of his time, you can see this with his desire to teach his wife how to drive in those days,” he said.
In his remarks, former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Emir of Kano Sanusi Lamido, said the late Ambassador Wali was at the fore-front of promoting the cause of women and their rights in northern Nigeria, among other laudable things.
