Nigeria's President, Muhammadu Buhari, has said the nation has managed to survive many challenges, including enemies within and outside the country, who have been hard at work, and eagerly waiting to see the country’s downfall.
Buhari who made the statement in his independence day broadcast on Friday, October 1, also acknowledged the many challenges facing the country, describing it as the most difficult times in the nation's history.
In his speech, the president also made reference to 'doomsday' predictions against the country by both local and international analysts in the wake of covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
It would be recalled that CNN journalist, Fareed Zakaria, mentioned Nigeria among countries likely to be hit the hardest by the covid-19 critics.
Zakaria in a publication by The Washington Post on April 5th, 2020, said, "Even as we are just beginning to confront the magnitude of the shock caused by the Covid-19 pandemic we need to wrap our minds around a painful truth. We are in the early stages of what is going to become a series of cascading crises, reverberating throughout the world.
"The shock of Covid-19 is being felt in countries like China, Italy, Spain, and the US, but next will come “explosions in the developing world,” where testing has been scarce, as are resources to cope with an economic crash.
"Oil-producing states could see chaos: with oil prices crashing even before Covid-19 hit, countries like Libya, Nigeria, Iran, Iraq, and Venezuela could see economic catastrophes resulting in “political turmoil, refugees, even revolutions, on a scale we have not seen for decades.
"The world entered this crisis with mountains of public debt and with global cooperation at a nadir. The problem we face is broad and global but unfortunately the responses are increasingly narrow and parochial”.
Now ex-wife of billionaire philanthropist, Bill Gates, Ms Melinda Gates also painted a gory picture of a possible devastating effects of covid-19 on the African Continent.
Speaking to CNN’s Poppy Harlow back in 2020, about the coronavirus pandemic and the crisis facing countries in Africa, she said, “It’s going to be horrible in the developing world. Part of the reasons you are seeing the case numbers still do not look very bad is because they don’t have access to many tests. Look at what is happening in Ecuador, they are putting bodies out on the streets; you are going to see that in countries in Africa.”
However, despite these and many other predictions against the country, Buhari whilst admitting things haven't been all plain sailing for the country, said the country was still able to navigate its way out of its many challenges.
“Fellow Nigerians, the past 18 months have been some of the most difficult periods in the history of Nigeria. Since the Civil War, I doubt whether we have seen a period of more heightened challenges than what we have witnessed in this period.
“Our original priorities for 2020 were to continue stabilising our economy following the deep recession while restoring peace in areas confronted with security challenges. But the COVID-19 pandemic and its devastating impact on all nations meant we needed to shift gears and re-strategise.
“Nigerians came together as one to fight against COVID-19. It is this attitude and by the special grace of God, we continue to survive the pandemic as a nation and indeed, provide leadership and example at regional and international levels.
“The doomsday scenario predicted for our country never came. Even as the Delta variant continues to spread, we have built the capacity we need to respond now and into the future,” he said.