Cross River dep-gov inspires Nigerians

The Acting Governor of Nigeria’s eastern state of Cross River, Mr Efiok Cobham , has urged the people to see challenges as opportunities to turnaround the state’s history for good in the New Year.

Cobham gave the charge in a statewide broadcast to mark the beginning of 2013 in Calabar on Tuesday.

He specifically charged residents to abhor vices, be at peace with one another and strive to be better persons in subsequent New Year celebrations.

“As we step into 2013, be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbours and let each New Year find you a better man,’’ he said, quoting Benjamin Franklin, one of America’s founding fathers.

He also urged the people to celebrate the New Year with joy and optimism and give praises to Almighty God for making it possible for them to cross over with the rest of humanity into 2013.

“If we look back at the outgone 2012, we can all see that we have various reasons to count our blessings. If we look around us, we will see that it is not everyone who celebrated the last New Year with us that is here with us today. So, we must thank God for His mercies.

”Today, we begin a new day in a New Year. We stand a great chance to make a difference in our lives, in our communities and in our country.

“In the words of Edith Lovejoy Pierce, foremost playwright: ‘Today, we will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called opportunity and its first chapter is New Year Day.

” We have on our collective hands today, the first chapter of a great new book called 2013. “Let’s write a story that we shall be proud to read on January 1, 2014,’’ Cobham said.

He said that it was important that residents of the state understood the imperative of unity themselves, noting: “it is really so vital that it cannot be over-emphasised. “So, as we step into this New Year, we owe it to ourselves to cast our differences aside and work for the greater good of our people.’’

He also charged the people to offer their time and talents “to the ideals and programmes that will impact on our communities in the best of ways’’.