Abdullahi Ganduje, governor of Kano State, has said Nigeria’s faulty foundation is traceable to the colonial masters who, according to him, structured the country to serve their own interests.
Ganduje made the assertions in his remarks as the guest speaker at the launching of the N250 million Dr Abdullahi Ganduje Lecture Theatre on Saturday at the University of Ibadan.
The governor who bagged the Most Distinguished Alumni Award, noted that the faulty foundation laid by the colonial masters was purely done to actualise their interests and not for any genuine development of the country.
“The challenges of nation building in Nigeria are attributable to the very faulty foundation laid by the European colonial masters,” he said.
“These were purely done to actualise their interests and not for any genuine development of the country.”
The Kano governor said colonial rule divided Nigeria into North and South without much concern for the peculiarities of the two regions.
According to him, the division was without concern for the difference in land tenure systems, local government administration, education and judicial systems.
Ganduje said the challenges of nation building should be a matter of concern to all, adding that there was need to reflect on the journey so far to build and leave a better legacy for the future.
“From this historical legacy, therefore, regionalism has been a major challenge to nation-building in Nigeria. Under these conditions, it was easy for prejudice and fear to thrive.
“Nation-building is about building a common sense of purpose, sense of shared destiny and collective imagination of belonging.
“Nation-building is about building the tangible and intangible threads that hold a political entity together and gives it a sense of purpose,” he said