Notable Nigerians on Monday agreed that the current
situation in Nigeria characterised by hate speech, sectional agitations and
separatist movements was precarious and requires urgent and strong
collaboration between the leaders and the followers to curtail it and bring
about peace and unity.
This was a position collectively taken by eminent Nigerians,
who included the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Okechukwu
Enelamah; the Bishop of Sokoto Catholic Dioceses, Bishop Mathew Kukah;
Chairman, THISDAY Editorial Board, Mr. Segun Adeniyi; former Super Eagles
player, Chief Segun Odegbami; and Professor Pat Utomi, on a discussants platform
at a socioeconomic conference put together by a Lagos-based Covenant Christian
Centre.
Kukah, who addresses the topic: ‘Weakness of Power’,
was particularly disturbed about the ethnic fault lines now common among the
people of Nigeria, noting that every Nigerian feels disgruntled about various
things.
“All of us are unhappy and I believe the president
too is unhappy because this is not the country he sacrificed for. The president
said he fought a civil war to keep Nigeria as one, but if we fought a civil war
over 40 years ago and the problem persists, then it means something is wrong.
“The country has become chaotic. Collectively, we are
frustrated in Nigeria. The issue now is, how do we process this anger?” He
asked, stressing that “where we are now, anything can go wrong because we are
at a tipping point. Nigeria is on a dangerous precipice and we must therefore
be careful.”
According to him, anger is prevalent everywhere in
the country, and the people are seeking means of expressing their anger,
therefore, he argued that the best option is to address their grievances and
not attempt to silence the people.
But despite this, he opined that the people should
continue to enjoy their inalienable right to talk.
“I don’t believe freedom of speech can be taken away
from the citizens. Anyone who wants to rule Nigeria must be ready to cope with
our angers. If the elite bother to know, they should know that we all want the
same things,” he said.
He however warned Nigerians against hate speech,
which he said is always a prelude to massacre, adding that “we cannot begin to
deploy hatred. Before every killing, you have to reduce the other person to
justify the killing and that is what you do with hate speech.”
The cleric also expressed a situation where
ethnicity is becoming a standard for evaluating persons.
Regarding the lingering restructuring debate, Kukah
said: “The National Assembly ought not to have opinion about this. We are the
ones expressing dissatisfaction."
But earlier, when delivering his keynote address, Elenamah,
who had noted that the President Muhammadu Buhari administration is leaving no
stone unturned to ensure that Nigerians begin to feel the positive impacts of
his leadership, said one major problem confronting the country is that not
every hands are on the deck in the quest to change the Nigerian narratives
positively.
According to him, “A fundamental flaw in the Nigerian debate
is the absence of self-responsibility.” Drawing example from the Spanish
miracle between 1959 and 1974 when Spanish technocrats brought about rapid
development in the European country, he said: “It takes only one committed
generation to build a Nigerian of our dream. We must start with the end in
mind.”
He also stated that the current administration is working to
change the Nigerian story by creating conducive environment for the people to
thrive in their legitimate businesses.
The minister said: “We need to create an environment for us
to succeed. Nigerians succeed outside the country but when you give them the same
hurdle in Nigeria they fail. Government, civil society groups and the people
must partner to inspire and foster the new generation of Nigerian to bring
about a new Nigeria, and why not this generation?”
Adeniyi, who dwelled more on issues pertaining hate speeches,
which he said is further putting Nigeria on the edge, cited the reversed Arewa
Youth Consultative Forum ultimatum to Igbo in the North to quit, which though
had been withdrawn, saying: “The damage done was unprecedented.”
He added that: “However, the fact was that the ultimatum was
triggered by hate speeches made by Nnamdi Kanu and many elders from other
climes who felt that the Igbo elders who were old enough to born Kanu failed to
call him to order and were genuflecting with him until the situation nearly got
out if hand.”
The former presidential spokesperson therefore advised that
“rather than directing our angers at other ethnic nationalities, we should look
for ways to move the country forward because bad governance is not peculiar to
the federal government; it also affects the states and the local governments.”
On his part, Odegbami said corruption is one of the banes of
the growth of Nigeria. He drew inference from sharp practices in the sports
sector, which he said ought to have been one of the veritable tools to move
Nigeria forward through empowerment of youths.
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