Nigeria’s Diversity Not Reason For Division, Says Deputy Speaker

Deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Benjamin Kalu, has declared that Nigeria’s diversity is not a call for division but a beautiful coloration that signifies strength and unity in the journey towards nationhood.

Kalu stated this in a keynote address yesterday in Abuja at the commencement of a two-day National Engagement on Addressing Identity-based Conflict with the theme, “Mapping Actors to Reduce Identity Conflict”, jointly organised by the International Republican Institute (IRI) and National Endowment for Democracy (NED) at the National Assembly Library.

He said though the country is made up of different ethnic groups and religions, the goal is one national objective.

Kalu also called for the proper identification of the issues which included farmers/herders clashes in the North Central; banditry and civilian security arrangements in North West and the violent agitations in the South East and their possible causes with the aim to proffering lasting solutions to those problems.

He said, “Let me join others who spoke earlier today to say that our diversity is not a call to division. It is a beautiful coloration that this nation has been blessed with. We should leverage the varieties that come from the different perspectives with which we view things to bring to the bricks and the walls of nation building.

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“It is for us to join hands, not leaving one other hand because the colour is brown or black or because the tongue speaks Yoruba, Hausa or Igbo. Yoruba is Nigeria. Igbo is Nigeria. Hausa is Nigeria. Efik is Nigeria. My brother in the North is still my brother though I am from the South East. And my brother in the South West is still my brother. And you should be able to say the same that though we are designed differently with different embroideries on our garment, the garment that we all wear is called Nigeria.”