Yesterday, September 11th, was the 254th day of the year (255th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 110 days remaining until the end of the year.Every 11th September is remembered globally as the anniversary of the catastrophic terrorist attacks on the USA of 11th September 2001.

This brings to mind the lecture I currently gave at the National Institute For Policy And Strategic Studies,Kuru Jos. Plateu-State.on Managing Violent Conflicts in Nigeria from a legislative perspective on the 7th of September, 2018, just a few days ago.

In the past decade especially, Nigeria has been immersed in an existential web of violent conflicts that threaten the delicate socio-political and economic fabric that hold us together as a nation. A typical day breaks with all sorts of unimaginable killings and needless loss of properties and lives. It is saddening that we keep going through this, despite the combined efforts of the government, foreign bodies, security agencies, and even you and I, to stop them.

As lawmakers, despite the fact that we have a wide plenitude of legislative powers to make laws for the peace, order & good government of the federation (S4(2) of the 1999 constitution), it is obvious that we cannot legislate our way out of violent conflicts.

Even though conflicts are inevitable in social formations with diverse people, we urgently need to reduce the level of poverty in the land which,indeed, is at the core of the systemic tremors that ravage our fatherland in the form of violent conflicts.

Every life matters and with a shared set of national values as the basis of our interrelationships, we shall get it right someday, because we just can’t afford to stop trying. We will keep trying to make sure the causes of these conflicts stop.
May the souls of all those lost in this horrible way keep resting in peace. Amen.