Stakeholders urge Nigerians to imbibe Lenin’s ideology for sustainable development
By Angela Atabo
Stakeholders have called on Nigerians to imbibe the ideologies of Vladimir Lenin, for sustainable development.
The stakeholders said this at the International Lenin Centenary Conference on Monday in Abuja.
Leninism emanated from Vladimir Lenin, Russian revolutionary figure and founder of the Russian communist who overthrew Czar Nicolas II.
It is a practical adaptation of Marxism for overthrowing the government and its main focus is the process of subversion and the transformation of the country into a communist society.
Ms Owei Lakemfa, the Chairperson, Organising Committee for the conference, described Leninism as a political ideology developed by Russian Marxist revolutionary, Vladimir Lenin.
Lakemfa said Leninism was a way of thinking about how workers could be empowered for a sustainable and developed country.
“The message is that there are alternative ideas in the world. Apart from the capitalist system, there is also a system more humane which we can pursue for a better Nigeria, which we tried to pursue in the First Republic.
“During that time, the state was making contributions, and industrialising unlike what people are doing now which is the opposite.
“Rather than industrialise and build things, they are selling what have been built.
“People like Obafemi Awolowo suggested that we need a socialist system to include every body’s right to education, free health, accommodation and rural development; that was what they tried to do over the years,” she said.
Lakemfa called on Nigerians to explore alternative ideas to address the challenges in the country by becoming more productive rather than depend solely on imports.
He said that world over, the government was in charge of development and he called on the Nigerian government to change and make the country more productive.
President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, said Leninism emerged at a tumultuous period of history and it sought to provide a framework for the establishment of a socialist state.
Ajaero, who was represented by the Head of Information, NLC, Mr Benson Upah, said the celebration of Lenin would be in vain if active steps and resolutions were not taken to work together as Nigerians, to make a difference in the nation.
“Without the work of Vladimir Lenin, all the beautiful Marxian postulations may not have found traction in the real world economy.
“We therefore owe him greatly for the practicality and vibrancy of the ideologies of the Left. It is essential to assess how Leninist principles resonate with the challenges posed by these modern phenomena.
”It is important to state that his postulations have remained more valid and potent today than at its beginnings especially for people of conscience, the left and indeed working-class activists as we are confronted with the deepening challenges of an increasingly distorted and polarised world,” Ajaero said.
He urged citizens to be committed to reclaiming the civic space by building and empowering cadres across the nation and use it to bring an end to oppressive tendencies.
Also, Mr Ray Bishop, the representative of the International Community League, said one of Lenin’s contributions to the world was to build the Bolsheviks in Russia since the party gave necessary leadership to the working class in 1917.
Bishop said that the movement helped in leading all the oppressed people and brought about the October revolution and the biggest defeat that imperialism ever suffered .
“Today, with all the problems in the world, the key problems like national and social development in Africa and Latin America can be defeated with proper programming, to defeat imperialism,” he said.
Prof. Nuhu Yaqub, a former Vice-Chancellor, Sokoto State University, called on union leaders to be more committed to the course of promoting the welfare of the working class.
“What we are celebrating today is the practicality of changing people’s lives through Leninism, so I am asking the trade unions here and other stakeholders to emulate Lenin’s ideology .
“Lenin was able to organise for a better course and I urge unions to do the same and not just fight for salary increase which could be of less value by the time it is increased.
“We are looking for a trade unionist like Lenin who was able to mobilise the workers for a more profitable course, so we need a leadership of that calibre to develop things in this country,” he said
Yaqub said unionists must be committed to achieve a change and save the country, urging them to stay away from politics and not be influenced by politicians. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)
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Edited by Ali Baba Inuwa
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