In his speech at the Berlin Wall on June 12, 1987, United States President Ronald Reagan called on Mikhail Gorbachev, leader of the Soviet Union, to pull down the 45-kilometer electrified fences that separated East and West Berlin. The speech
“Tear Down This Wall” led to the removal of the wall in November 1989, and the eventual end of the cold war.

John. F. Kennedy’s Presidential inaugural address, delivered in Washington, 20 January 1961, “Ask Not What Your Country Can Do for You; Ask What You Can Do for Your Country” has continued to inspire young people all over the world to aspire, achieve and serve their country.
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President Muhammadu Buhari has consistently maintained that the greatest problem of Nigeria is corruption, that corruption is at the root of Nigeria’s inability to develop. He consistently campaigned for the power and opportunity to deal with the challenge of corruption. His inaugural speech as Nigeria’s Military Head of State, 31 December 1983; his Speech to the Joint Education Stakeholders Action Coalition (J ESAC) 2nd National Consultative Conference with Presidential Candidates on 28th October 2010 at the Centre for Women Development, Abuja, as Presidential Candidate for Congress for Progressive Change; and his inaugural speech as President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of Federal Republic of Nigeria on 29 May 2015; all centre on the subject of corruption. And it is now universally accepted that corruption is Nigeria’s number one problem.

The war against corruption is Nigeria’s war of liberation. Despite the misinformation being dished out by corrupt individuals and organizations and their agents, the war against corruption has nothing to do with politics, religion, region or tribe. The victims of corruption including students, teachers, lecturers, parents, 10 million out-of-school children, the millions of unemployed youths are not restricted to any political party, to any region of the country, to any religious group or to any ethnic group.

This is Nigeria’s hour of liberation from the shackles of corruption. It is the duty of education stakeholders as the teachers of the nation to rise, write, teach, inspire and motivate mainstream Nigerians to join and support the war against corruption; to present a corruption-free country as an ideal we should be prepared to die for; to give us the courage to tear down the wall of corruption and fight to achieve the country of our dream; to give us hope that there is light after the darkness of the night; to support our President and rise for our country in this hour of her greatest need.

The great speeches cited below have inspired millions of people across the world for years. The central lesson is simple and straightforward as captured by Barack Obama: “E Pluribus Unum”. Out of Many, One.