Dangers of ethnic, religious prejudices

President Muhammadu Buhari, this week, rightly and timely, warned Nigerians against exhibiting ethnic and religious prejudices, saying such behaviours would not augur well for the unity and development of the country.


The president, rightly chose his audience too, to issue his warning. He spoke when the leaders of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), led by the President-General and Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar. The NSCIA leaders met with the president in Abuja.


The president is right in choosing the occasion and time to speak because the twin issues of ethnicity and religion, rather than help Nigerians understand one another better and help in forging unity among the diverse people of the country, are manipulated to serve as tools for division among the people.


Arguably, Nigeria has a population of 200 million inhabitants with over 250 different ethnic groups and over 400 spoken different languages and dialects.


The multicultural nature of the Nigerian society with sharp ethnic and religious differences which generated various versions of ethnic identity and question, have created dangerous suspicion, distrust and conflicting antagonistic relationship among the various ethnic nationalities in the country.


This ugly development is affecting the successful operations of democracy because religion and ethnicity are manipulated by the Nigerian political class for their personnel gains.
Ethnic and religious attachments in Nigeria are demonstrated mainly through the processes of election of political leaders, service delivery and employment in educational institutions, civil service, police, army, etc.


Sometimes, even some security personnel send to quell violent ethnic conflict end up taking side with their ethnic group. In multicultural and multiethnic complex communities of Nigeria, ethnic groups violently compete for scarce resources such as property, jobs, education, social amenities and political power because political power is seen as an instrument for acquiring quick wealth, domination and revenge.
Often times, the working of economic forces warrants for tension between and among different ethnic groups with unhealthy competing vested interest.


It is equally regrettable that ethnic conflicts have affected the government and the people, generally, and resulted in political and economic instability, cripple patriotism, breed suspicion, lack of trust and relationship among different ethnic groups in the country.


The situation is even more regrettable if we consider the fact that it is generally believed that responsive and responsible government would restore confidence among the population and promote unity among the competing ethnic groups in Nigeria.
It is, therefore, commendable that the president was seen and heard berating those ethnic and religious jingoists and said that his administration would continue to create the enabling environment for religious freedom as guaranteed by the Nigerian Constitution.


“It is self-evident that if the country must work, we must continue to work together in spite of our ethnic, religious and political differences because Nigeria is our collective project,” the president said. “Accordingly, the Federal Government under my leadership does not and will not allow religious prejudice or partisanship to influence any of its decisions and policies.”


No doubt, in this period of tension among ethnic groups and outright exhibition of primordial tendencies by influential Nigerians, it is heartwarming to hear the president said that “it is my solemn decision to be fair and just to all segments of society.”


It is, also, in this spirit that Sultan Abubakar, the NSCIA leader, should be appreciated for he appealed to Nigerians, particularly religious leaders, to refrain from making inflammatory comments that could sow discord in the polity and exacerbate the already bad relationship among ethnic groups and current level of insecurity.
Tellingly, the sultan told truth to power when he told the president that religious leaders making subversive comments should be called to order. The Buhari-led administration should heed this call because until now, little or no efforts are made by the government to call to order or arrest those overzealous ethnic and religious so-called leaders whose actions and statements appeared obviously detrimental to the task of nation-building.

Global problems, global solutions

President Muhammadu Buhari has, once again, restated the need for the international community to collectively and frontally confront global problems such as the COVID-19 pandemic, terrorism and corruption collectively.
The president spoke at an event organised to receive Letters of Credence of the new Ambassadors of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Argentina at the Presidential Villa.


The Ambassadors who presented their Letters of Credence to Buhari are Mr Ihab Moustafa Awad Moustafa, Arab Republic of Egypt; Mr Faisal Ebraheem Alajrafi Alghamdi, the Royal Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; and Mr Alejandro Miguel Francisco Herrero, the Republic of Argentina.


Receiving their letters, the president said: “We have common challenges that impact so much on our countries, which include terrorism, insurgency, climate change, population explosion, human trafficking, corruption, poverty, and proliferation of small arms and light weapons.
“On top of all these, the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has come with different strains that pose additional challenge to the initial outbreak. These challenges underscore the need for the international community to work even more in concert to collectively identify appropriate ways and means to globally resolve these challenges.”
The president told the Ambassadors that Nigeria was willing “to work with you all to achieve global peace, food security and sustainable environment.”
While wishing the envoys a successful tenure, the president enjoined them to escalate the current level of relations.


However, while the need for countries to come together to fight these common problems is not only desirable and remains the only way to eliminate the problems in the interest of humanity, some major social and political differences among them should not be ignored.


Still, to solve the world’s most challenging problems, it is critical that countries work together in a coordinated manner. Countries should share a vision about how to solve any given problem and they must define clear goals and priorities that go beyond a narrow, specific philosophy and surpass what each entity could deliver individually.
When aligned behind, and focusing on a larger mission, countries can make more progress and deliver greater impact.


Cooperation among countries, is therefore, necessary. However, it’s easy to talk about coordinating efforts of countries but it is, in fact, far harder to do so effectively.
To succeed, countries must team up in flexible and adaptive ways and jettison their hardline social and political views. Just as important is the need to openly and transparently share information, expertise, and knowledge.


True cooperation requires trust, but building trust takes time and must be earned. Countries, especially of sub-regions, like West Africa, and other like-minded international groupings such as the G-77, should start coming together by way of having explicit agreements among themselves that will help mitigate perceived risks.


From there, they can expand the partnership as trust levels grow. When countries prove themselves to be reliable by following through on their responsibilities, real, mutual trust begins to emerge.
Leaders, such as the president, can also play an important role by setting an example and demonstrating what openness, moderation and trust look like.


When alignment, coordination and trust come together, the results can be powerful. We have already seen this in the fight against polio, a disease that has recently been eliminated in Africa, and malaria, also a deadly disease spread by mosquitoes.


As recently as a decade ago, malaria was on the rise, killing more than one million people a year, mostly in Africa. Since then, the death toll has fallen by 40 percent, and it is still falling.
Essentially, it must now be agreed by all, especially leaders, that the world has changed and we are changing with it.


In this century, next door is everywhere. That is why the world needs coalition diplomacy. No country can defeat terrorism on its own. No country can solve the existential threat of climate change alone. No country can eradicate extreme poverty, combat potential pandemics, or improve nuclear security by itself.


Countries must, therefore, heed the call made by the President Muhammadu Buhari for unity and collective actions.

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