Nigeria's 60th independence celebration was a mix bag of joy and sadness as aggrieved citizens took to the streets in protest rather than celebration. To them, there is nothing about the country worth celebrating for the past 60 years.
However, while those from within, view Nigeria as a wretched 60 year old woman, stripped bare despite being blessed with all that she needed to succeed, there seem to be suitors from the outside who admires her beauty, and would lavish over N25 million in celebration of her 60th anniversary.
Nigerians on Thursday, were filled with awe as they beheld the world’s tallest building, an 828 metre-tall Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), lits up with the green and white colors to mark Nigeria’s 60th Independence Anniversary.
A video of the spectacle was posted by the UAE’s Ambassador to Nigeria, Dr. Fahad Al Taffaq. The display reportedly costs 250,000 Emirate Dirham (approximately N25.6 million) to put up. It is unclear though, who footed the bill.
Happy 60th Independence Day #Nigeria!
— Dr. Fahad Al Taffaq (@altaffaq) October 1, 2020
Congratulations to the leadership, government and good people of Nigeria on this occasion.
Nigeria’s Flag was featured today on #BurjKhalifa to celebrate our growing relations.
🇦🇪 🤝 🇳🇬#TogetherAt60 #NigeriaAt60 #IndependenceDayNigeria pic.twitter.com/TeuPRGGpnZ
The UAE Ambassador tweeted, “Happy 60th Independence Day #Nigeria!
“Congratulations to the leadership, government and good people of Nigeria on this occasion.
“Nigeria’s Flag was featured today on #BurjKhalifa to celebrate our growing relations.”
But in reaction to the development, Chief Executive Officer, Ovation Media Group, Dele Momodu, says Nigeria needs a visionary leader to replicate in the country, the giant strides being recorded in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
He stated this in a tweet on Friday while reacting to the Middle Eastern nation’s decision to put up green-white lighting on Burj Khalifa, a 2,722-feet skyscraper situated in Dubai, to celebrate Nigeria on her 60th independence anniversary.
Nigeria urgently needs and deserves a leader whose VISION is much taller than the world's tallest building, the BURJ KHALIFA, in Dubai, bec our myriad of gargantuan challenges cannot be tackled by a MYOPIC leadership... This gesture in Dubai yesterday reiterated such imperative! pic.twitter.com/HX4IySqTbx
— Dele Momodu Ovation (@DeleMomodu) October 2, 2020
Momodu said that only a leader with vision taller than the Burj Khalifa would be able to tackle the “gargantuan challenges” confronting Nigeria and set the nation on the path of greatness.
He wrote, “Nigeria urgently needs and deserves a leader whose VISION is much taller than the world’s tallest building, the BURJ KHALIFA, in Dubai, because our myriad of gargantuan challenges cannot be tackled by a MYOPIC leadership… This gesture in Dubai yesterday reiterated such imperative!”