“There are three periods in the life of a people or in the life of a country. The three periods are yesterday, today and tomorrow. Yesterday belongs to the dead and to chroniclers; today belongs to current functionaries and operatives and you will find them all over the place. Tomorrow belongs to visionaries and idealists, without whom you cannot build a new society”.
“The great Martin Lurther King postulated and popularised the dream of fundamental change when he said, “I have a dream”. We must not be shy to copy him and say “we too have a dream”, a dream and a vision and what Nigeria can be and what our peoples should be in the long-term. That is what idealism is about. But we must also appreciate what we are, where we are and what is attainable in the short-term. That is what realism is about. I would define one of the tasks of the current generation of Nigerians as reconciliation of idealism and realism”.