The Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), Professor Suleiman Elias Bogoro has said Nigeria’s diversity should be seen as a blessing and not a curse as it often brings out the best in every society.
Bogoro who was in Bauchi on Friday at the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations summit for National Integration, Peace and Security said Nigeria is better as a united country than a dic=vided one.
“We have missed opportunities that would have helped us become stronger than we are now, but the beauty of it is that, at each occasion, we have taken advantage of moments and gatherings like this, to bring ourselves together and speak of those things that are important for national integration”
Some of the unfortunate incidents of violent conflicts in Nigeria, including Bauchi for instance, my own community in Bogoro and Tafawa Balewa has reinforced my faith in making myself available as an intellectual to play the role of promoting integration at all levels from my family to my local government, to my state, country.
“I have sat at platforms across the world and the message is very simple if peace is not guaranteed and is not established, nothing else in society will work and we know that for Nigeria, our constitution and other instrumentality of the law are clearly encapsulated to promote integration and peace because it is when there is peace, that there is understanding and cooperation which allows other things follow naturally.
”While commending the NIPR for picking this particular title for the summit and bringing it to my state. It couldn’t have been at a better time when the tenets of national integration tantalizes the related aspects of peace and security at a time when insecurity is easily the number one enemy. We need to interrogate the challenges associated with insecurity and issues that will naturally come up and emerge during the sessions at this meeting.
“Today, insecurity is the first concern of Nigerians because we have seen over time how insurgency in the North-east region has gradually spread to the North-West and the North-Central in the last two to three years. Before then, it was virtually almost exclusively a problem of the Northeastern part and that is our part of the country and I know we played our role to see what we can do and at each stage, we have discovered that the microscopic problems at all levels of even families, institutions, states, may blossom and cross boundaries to cover regions and eventually they are national problems”
Bogoro called on the participants of the meeting to address issues that are the basis of disaffection through just leadership inclusivity at all levels of institutions and governance, adding that if that is done, there will be no minority and majority in the country.
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