Christmas: NBA Osogbo Urges Nigerians To Build A Decent Country

The Osogbo Branch of the Nigerian Bar Association has felicitated with Nigerians on the occasion of this year’s Christmas celebrations.

In a statement signed by the association’s Publicity Secretary, S. P. Ogundari, Esq., the body of lawyers urged Nigerians to seize the season to pause and reflect on the state of the country and review their individual contributions to its progress or retrogression.

“Christ who is the reason for this season is recorded not only as being peaceful, forgiving and loving, he generally exemplified selflessness. These among other sterling attributes are the ingredients needed in engendering a developed nation which we are not but can be”, the learned gentlemen noted.

While enjoining Nigerians to be good examples of the good life they desire to enjoy, the lawyers’ group particularly charged Nigerians to reflect on their acts either as leaders or followers and see whether they are in accord with the good qualities extolled in Jesus Christ.

The body particularly directed series of soul-searching questions at Nigerians and urged them to see their daily acts as the blocks that make up the building called Nigeria.

“Whether as a judge, lawyer, doctor, trader, civil servant, nurse, plumber, electrician, automobile engineer, court clerk, clergyman, teacher, driver, baker, banker, journalist or bricklayer, how Christ-like are you in your conducts towards fellow men? How honest and law-abiding are you in your day-to-day dealings?”

The lawyers further asked: “How honourable and dependable are you, generally? Do you, in your own little way, practise what you preach and criticise about the government? Do you not bypass the electricity metre in your house? Do you not sell substandard goods to your customers as ‘originals’? Are you just towards your subordinates at work? Are you faithful to your employer(s)? As a landlord, do you make life easy for your tenants? Or, as a tenant, do you make use of your rented apartment like it is your own or like you do not care?

The statement further asked: “Do you dump refuse in gutters? Do you throw debris from a moving vehicle onto the road? How orderly or recklessly do you use public roads? Do you obey traffic lights? As a petrol station attendant, do you not shortchange your customers? As a journalist, how do you use your pen? Is it to unite or tear your country apart? As a lawyer, judge, public office holder or security agent, what image do you create for your country? A lawless jungle?”

“Let us reflect and realise that as building blocks make a mansion, our individual acts contribute to what manner of a country we are going to have because, it takes decent citizens to have a decent country. As we celebrate this Christmas, let us be moderate and not indulge in recklessness in our acts of merrymaking. We wish everyone merry Christmas and a happy new year in advance” the statement concluded.