Quotes by Nigerian authors

See the complete list of authors from Nigeria

"The challenge as we saw in the Nigerian project was to restructure the economy decisively in the direction of a modern free market as an appropriate environment for cultivation of freedom and democracy and the natural emergence of a new social order"

Ibrahim Babangida, Statesman

"The average Nigerian person has come to reconcile himself with the fact that his or her social progress remain essentially in his or her hands in collaboration with other fellow Nigerians and not merely relying on what government alone could provide for him or her"

Ibrahim Babangida, Statesman

"Even now, we make no apologies for the choice we made. The sacrifices we made were selfless. The options we offered were patriotic while the paths we chose were well thought out"

Ibrahim Babangida, Statesman

"The history of our country is not the history of any other country in the world which is either practicing advanced democracy or struggling to lay the foundation for democracy"

Ibrahim Babangida, Statesman

"There is also work to do in the evolution of a stable family life and values, and in ensuring that the Nigerian family is built on core values that will form the bedrock of the future society. We must showcase the ideals of family life and be models of family values"

Ibrahim Babangida, Statesman

"The reason is that till date, in spite of advances in information technology and strategies of information, the written word in the form of books still remains one of humanity's most enduring legacies"

Ibrahim Babangida, Statesman

"Most importantly, nothing has happened to change my conviction that freedom and the love of liberty remain the essential defining attributes of our national character as a people"

Ibrahim Babangida, Statesman

"It is of course the nature of historical contraction that the shortest distance to a historical destination is never a straight line"

Ibrahim Babangida, Statesman

"But no nation can base its survival and development on luck and prayers alone while its leadership fritters away every available opportunity for success and concrete achievement"

Ibrahim Babangida, Statesman

"At the same, we need to remain sensitive to the reality that we are still an African society in which the majority of the people and communities live under severe deprivations and afflictions that are no fault of theirs"

Ibrahim Babangida, Statesman

"We have established a new basis in our country in which economic liberalization would continue to flourish alongside democratic forces and deregulated power structure"

Ibrahim Babangida, Statesman

"There are no doubts that, the situation in the country today, indicates that there is much more work to do in the process of reforming the political economy and improving the quality of life of our people and communities"

Ibrahim Babangida, Statesman

"Our approach to economic development must be modern, focused and in tune with the global trend"

Ibrahim Babangida, Statesman

"The return of democracy in our land has indeed thrown the problems of development into bolder relief"

Ibrahim Babangida, Statesman

"Our choice of a reform framework dictated that we looked at the fundamental assumptions that had driven Nigeria's economy, society and policy hitherto and to seek ways of either abandoning or transcending those assumptions and their supporting institutions"

Ibrahim Babangida, Statesman

"It is only through books that we partake of the great harvest that is human civilization across the ages"

Ibrahim Babangida, Statesman

"Informed by our sad experience of history, we require nothing short of a foundation for lasting democracy"

Ibrahim Babangida, Statesman

"If you ask me to summarise our mission, I would put it this way: We were a military regime that sought to lay the foundations for freedom and liberty in a complex society"

Ibrahim Babangida, Statesman

"For as long as our people are held hostage by controllable socio-economic forces, we cannot afford to be indifferent to the ravages of poverty in all its dimensions and ramifications"

Ibrahim Babangida, Statesman

"Each one of us, and, indeed, all those who aspire to national leadership must bring their own visions, views and styles to the business of reforming Nigeria, and the search for solutions"

Ibrahim Babangida, Statesman

"Democracy opens new vistas and opportunities. We should use the opportunities it offers to correct past mistakes not to blunder anew"

Ibrahim Babangida, Statesman

"We will not, on the altar of money, mortgage our conscience, mortgage our faith, mortgage our salvation"

Peter Akinola, Clergyman

"We have been filled with grief as we have witnessed the decline of the North American Church that was once filled with missionary zeal and yet now seems determined to bury itself in a deadly embrace with the spirit of the age"

Peter Akinola, Clergyman

"The Bible says that two cannot walk together unless they are agreed"

Peter Akinola, Clergyman

"Stories can conquer fear, you know. They can make the heart bigger"

Ben Okri, Poet

"I was going to be a scientist"

Ben Okri, Poet

"We are insisting and we will continue to insist that this faith of the church must continue to be upheld come rain, come fire. That is our position"

Peter Akinola, Clergyman

"Pope John Paul II not only visited Nigeria twice but stood by the country in its fight against dictatorship and injustice"

Olusegun Obasanjo, Statesman

"Nigeria has no business with poverty. With our human and material resources, we shall strive to eradicate poverty from our country"

Olusegun Obasanjo, Statesman

"The acknowledged legislators of the world take the world as given. They dislike mysteries, for mysteries cannot be coded, or legislated, and wonder cannot be made into law. And so these legislators police the accepted frontiers of things"

Ben Okri, Poet

"I lived rough, by my wits, was homeless, lived on the streets, lived on friends' floors, was happy, was miserable"

Ben Okri, Poet

"When old people speak it is not because of the sweetness of words in our mouths; it is because we see something which you do not see"

Chinua Achebe, Writer

"Stories serve the purpose of consolidating whatever gains people or their leaders have made or imagine they have made in their existing journey thorough the world"

Chinua Achebe, Writer

"What the oil producer gets paid is about 16 percent. The majority of it is tax, which in fairness to the government of this country they have accepted and admitted"

Olusegun Obasanjo, Statesman

"We are distressed by the unilateral actions of those provinces that are clearly determined to redefine what our common faith was once"

Peter Akinola, Clergyman

"It is wrong to use equal language for unequal actions"

Peter Akinola, Clergyman

"Unfortunately, the true force which propels our endless political disputes, our constant struggles for political advantage, is often not our burning concern for democracy, it is often of our dedication to the principle of the rule of law"

Olusegun Obasanjo, Statesman

"I will not say the fact that there are no European Union observers at an election means that it will not be fair and free"

Olusegun Obasanjo, Statesman

"You see, I was told stories, we were all told stories as kids in Nigeria. We had to tell stories that would keep one another interested, and you weren't allowed to tell stories that everybody else knew. You had to dream up new ones"

Ben Okri, Poet

"The fact of storytelling hints at a fundamental human unease, hints at human imperfection. Where there is perfection there is no story to tell"

Ben Okri, Poet

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