Exactly eight days before his death, prominent nationalist, Dr. Tunji Otegbeye, said one of the reasons he was seriously ill was that Nigeria remained unsuccessful after 49 years of nationhood.

The late Otegbeye said this in an interview granted Nigerian Tribune in his Ilaro, Ogun State home, a day after the last independence anniversary of Nigeria.

In an emotion-ladened voice, the late Otegbeye, who had one of his sons close to him, reminisced on his struggles and those of his contemporaries to free Nigeria of neo-colonialism, concluding that it was sad to see the country on the spot it was at 49.

He said the demonstrations he and his colleagues held against certain decisions of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa-led government in Nigeria ensured some measure of sanity, but regretted that things had not got better, citing the post-independence Anglo-Nigerian Defence Pact demonstration, as one of such activities.

“One of the reasons I am sick now is that I am unhappy about the socio-economic development in Nigeria that Nigeria, after 49 years, is still a toddler,” he said.

The late politician said it was disheartening that most of Nigeria’s contem-poraries had made appreciable progress and now the ones dictating the direction of Nigeria’s economy.

“I had some visitors from Singapore recently. They came to set up investments in Nigeria. “About 1962, I went through India, Hong Kong, China and Moscow. You can imagine 1962 to now. Hong Kong, then, was not so big; it was not so important and not so developed. I would say it was not more developed than Nigeria then. I stayed in China. China was not such a big affair. These countries are now bringing development to us. I was unwanted here, but, though I couldn’t meet with the president, I was received by China’s Minister of Foreign Affairs. China is an economic power now.”







http://www.tribune.com.ng/12102009/news/news10.html