Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, has charged the graduating students of Veritas University on the importance of possessing a positive mindset for Nigeria’s growth.
Fashola stated this while speaking at the Veritas University 11th Convocation Lecture and Conferment of Honourary Doctorate Degree (Honoris Causa) with the theme, “Mind, Mindset and State of Mind.”
He urged the students to focus their minds, develop a mindset and maintain a state of mind that in every aspect of life they believe Nigeria can do better.
The minister said the kind of Nigeria they want depends on their mind, mindset or state of mind, while tasking them to exhibit self-discipline.
“Let me start by making some disclosures to you. All my education was in Nigeria, I have seen a difficult and not so difficult Nigeria. In all of it, my belief in this country and its promise has never changed. Nigeria remains for me a home, a place to treasure, to nurture and to protect.
“My state of mind is not to take flight to another man’s land and from there pour scorn and hate on the place of my birth. My state of mind tells me to offer my skills and deploy my energies towards improving the place I call home.
“My mindset is such that I believe that my contributions can improve something even if it does not improve everything. My mindset tells me that greatness is not an event, it is a process to which we all have contributions to make,” he said.
He further said it is not the fact of colonialism that has held Nigeria back but the citizens’ mindset.
“Please tell the apologists of colonial heritage that the USA, UAE and China were once colonies that have become either better or as competitive as those who colonised them.
“It is a positive mindset that enables you to understand that those who colonized you are approaching the peak of their development while ours is still fledging.”
“We have much more scope for development, the opportunity to leapfrog and the limitless capacity to be better.
The future should not therefore be defined or held back by the past,” he added.