THUR, 24 SEPT, 2020-theGBJournal-The Federal Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed said at a press briefing on the activities lined up for Nigeria at 60 celebration today, that the celebration will last for a whole year, ending September 30th 2021.
The Minister said the celebration will be low-key, as President Muhammadu Buhari has already announced. According to him, the pomp and pageantry that should have marked the celebration will be largely missing as this is not unconnected with the Covid-19 global pandemic, which has forced some safety protocols on nations around the world.
He observed that President Muhammadu Buhari has already kick-started the celebration by launching the logo and the theme for the anniversary celebration.
‘’The theme is ‘Together’, which is aimed at keeping us united and helping us to forge ahead, while the logo is already in the public domain,’’ he said.
The Minister quoted President Buhari’s explanation of the logo: ”The neatly encrusted Diamond on the Nigerian Map symbolizes our age of treasure, the worth of the Nigerian people with our sparkle to the admiration of the world. In the same vein, the pear green and dark green colours should respectively remind us of our warmth, welcoming spirit and love as well as the abundant wealth inherent in our human capital and the richness of our land. All these properties make us unarguably the most prosperous black nation in the world and Africa’s largest economy.”
Alhaji Mohammed while explaining the needs to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee, considering the myriad of socio-economic challenges facing the country said, ‘’our answer to that is contained in our theme of ‘Together’. For a country that has gone through a bitter, internecine civil war, years of political crisis, daunting security challenges, including religious and ethnic crisis, etc, our unity and our resilience (which by the way is what diamond represents) are worth celebrating.’’
He added: ‘’In certain cultures, the age of 60 is seen as the beginning of a new cycle of life, and is usually well marked. For Nigeria as a country, the Administration of President Muhammadu Buhari offers a new beginning. The Administration is working assiduously to build a new Nigeria, laying the building blocks for industrial and technological development by building massive infrastructures in the areas of power, roads, bridges, rail etc. and by developing human capital. The Administration is also fighting corruption, tackling insecurity and diversifying the economy by leveraging ICT, Creative Industry, Agriculture and mining, among others.’’
The celebration activities will start Friday September 25th 2020, with a Public Lecture.
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