Former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, in Minna, Niger State recently expressed fears over unity and peace in Nigeria. At the re-election campaign of Governor Muazu Aliyu in the state capital, the erstwhile president said the nation was at its most fragile period and should not be toyed with because of politics.

He told the people that the fabric of unity that ties us together as a nation should be our strength.
The nation, he further noted “cannot talk about unity and peace when people who benefited immensely from the country in different ways do not preach unity.”
Obasanjo is right on course on his preachment on national unity but he cannot be exonerated from the circumstances that created the present situation. As one who, during his last adventure in power ruled the country for eight consecutive years between 1999 and 2007, the former president certainly did not acquit himself as an apostle of peace and national unity. Many of his actions did not promote peace and unity of Nigerian people.

While we appreciate the views of the ex-president who is now chairman of Peoples Democratic Party Board of Trustees, his comments have come rather late in the day. We all know that Nigeria is an amalgalm of different nations or ethnic groups, and that unity is desirable and expedient to the cause of national development. There is, therefore, nothing really new about this observation.

However, there is a need to look more positively at the issue and seek ways of forging the nation into one strong entity. National unity cannot be achieved through recitation of the National Anthem at public events. We need to eschew divisive behaviour and check the people who take pride in accentuating the differences between our people.

Perhaps, nothing in recent times highlights this tendency more graphically than the insistence of certain Northern leaders on a president from the North in the April polls. The leaders, especially the head of the Northern Political Leaders Forum (NPLF), Mallam Adamu Ciroma, who has been most vociferous on the issue, are clearly stepping beyond the bounds of national unity, and may arouse anti-North sentiments across the country.

If we want to promote national unity, Nigerians will do well to consider the fundamental causes of disunity in the country. These, undoubtedly, include the gross injustice in distribution of national wealth and the widening gap between the rich and the poor. This gulf should be bridged, if our people are to see themselves as one. In addition, we need to give our youths good civics education.

A student cannot graduate from an American High School without a good knowledge of American history. In Nigeria, Nigerian history is not seriously taught. In fact, Obasanjo, while in power, suggested that courses such as history and mass communication were unworthy of serious study. It is necessary for people to know fundamentals of their national history, their national icons and the roles they played in the development of the country, to develop a sense of national pride and unity.

Our opinion leaders, also, must learn to emphasize the factors that unite Nigerians, rather than the ones that divide the people. We must celebrate our homogenous factors and work hard on heterogeneous ones. Let us celebrate merit in all things and reduce emphasis on quota system and federal character. Let us remove parochialism and insist on excellence which can be found everywhere in Nigeria. We must also decry the hypocritical attitude to national unity on the part of government. The matter should go beyond fine speeches at public events. Let there be practical examples and promotion of symbols and icons of national unity. Let us make our people believe, again, that we are one, by promoting the things that unite us, and ensure fairness and equity to all.

Let Nigerian leaders address critical issues that are undermining the unity of the country. These include the dithering on the restructuring of the country, state creation and resource control. Obasanjo, who is now preaching unity was in power for eight years, he did not listen to appeals of the people for restructuring of the polity. Attempts by the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) to institute a new revenue sharing formular were blocked. Efforts to evolve a federation that is consistent with the aspirations of the people were circumscribed by his government. Proper restructuring of the country would have helped tighten the fabric of our nation but his government raised a standard against it.

All stakeholders in the Nigerian project must work for unity of the country. Unity is not a luxury. It is a necessity that holds the promise of building our various peoples into a single entity for the good and progress of the country

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