Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Hassan Kukah, has said no Nigerian president has delivered a speech as inspiring or unifying as the one made at the country’s independence in 1960.
Speaking on Arise Television’s Prime Time on Thursday, Bishop Kukah lamented Nigeria’s failure to create a unifying national dream, stressing that nation-building thrives on mythologies and visions that ignite collective imagination—just as the “American Dream” did for the United States.
According to him, successive military regimes crippled the growth of intellectual engagement in governance, thereby stifling the ideas that could have shaped a stronger nation.
“Nation building is about mythology. It’s not about reality. America today is a myth—the American Dream. But Nigeria has not had the ability to create a dream,” Kukah said.
He questioned whether any presidential speech since independence had left Nigerians deeply inspired, the way John F. Kennedy’s 1963 address remains etched in American memory.
“The soldiers, unable to win intellectual arguments, simply suppressed them,” he added. “They didn’t allow intellect to become a dominant force.”
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