By Christian Njoku
CALABAR (CONVERSEER) – Archbishop Josef Bassey, the Founding Pastor of God’s Heritage Global Mission has asserted that great nations are not built by politicians or military might but by patriots.
Bassey disclosed this on Friday in Calabar during a press conference as part of activities to mark his birthday, which was celebrated on 25th September, and to introduce his Premier Cross River Destiny Awards, coming up on 2nd October.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the awardees include Governor Bassey Otu of Cross River, Chief Anthony Ani, former Minister of Finance; Prof. Kelvin Etta, former Vice Chancellor of the University of Calabar; and Kanu Agabi, a legal luminary and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN).
The archbishop, who is also the Chairman of the Council of Cross River’s Christian Leaders Forum, said nations are developed by people who love their lands enough and will lay down their lives for it and its people.
He said if that is not in place in a nation, such a nation has nothing in place, adding that having the best brains and wonderful politicians without patriots takes a nation nowhere.
“So until we begin to celebrate patriotism, sacrifices and selfless contributions made by some individuals, more people will see no need to travel that path of patriotism.
“The Premier Cross River Destiny Awards, on 2nd October, is an event where we will celebrate basically four of such people whose patriotism and selflessness have contributed to shaping the destiny of the state.
“The second part is that we want to immortalise the sacrifices of these patriots and inspire generations in a time when people are only concerned about self and not the collective destiny of the nation,” he said.
Bassey noted that great men shouldn’t only be honoured with glowing tributes when they are no more but should be celebrated as champions and heroes while they were still alive for their selfless and patriotic deeds.
Decrying the state of the nation, the cleric said if Nigeria gets its systems and institutions working and ensures that the environment supports dreams and visions, then its narrative will change.
According to him, solving the problem of the nation will require that the youths get their focus right and fight right because every generation must identify its battles and fight them and win or be enslaved.
“The various battles of this nation have been fought at different times by different generations of youths; Unfortunately, in the last 10 to 20 years, we have seen a breed of youths that are unwilling to fight any battle or die for anything.
“They are looking for cheap comfort, leisure and expecting that their fathers, who fought their own battles as youths, should now fight for them or be the ones to change things, it doesn’t work that way,” he emphasised.
He added that no shift will take place in the nation until the average youth starts to focus on the things he should focus on and not things that are irrelevant.
