THE LECTURE PRESENTED BY GOVERNOR UDOM EMMANUEL AT THE AREWA MEDIA INTERACTIVE AND DEVELOPMENT FORUM, AREWA HOUSE, KADUNA - NOVEMBER 4TH, 2021.

THEME: UNITY IN DIVERSITY

PROTOCOL.

https://www.nedutechblog.com/2021/11/unity-in-diversity-lecture-i-presented.html?m=1

Let me thank the leadership and members of the Arewa Media Interactive and Development Forum for having sufficient faith in the Nigeria Project, and sufficient hope in the unity of this great country, to build this bridge of unity at a time the monsters of tribalism and ethnicism are tearing our nation apart. That you decided to organize this lecture with a theme that centers on our “Unity in Diversity” attests to your fealty and fidelity to our Nation, and your abiding conviction in its endless possibilities.



In the mood of our current national despair, heightened by insecurity on a level only seen in war time, you have lit a candle of hope, unity, and love. My prayer is that this flame should be fanned into an enchanting blaze of love that would light and soften the dark crevices of our Nation and bring forth a new dawn of hope anchored on unity and brotherhood for our country and our people.

Since 1995, you have painstakingly kept faith with the Nigerian Project. Fired by patriotic fervor, you have interrogated issues of deep and profound importance to our national development and have, to give vent to those beliefs, invited eminent Nigerians to speak on these critical issues.

I am convinced that most of the conclusions presented by the various speakers you had invited in

the past, may have found space and corresponding execution by policy makers. I am therefore, honored to have been considered by you to be the Keynote Speaker at this year’s event. The theme of this year’s event, “Unity in Diversity” is apt, deeply reflective and speaks to the mood of the Nation.



For decades, the drumbeats of our Nation have filled and seared the ears about the fragility of our unity and the elasticity of the tolerance of our diversity. Some have prophesied the imminent demise of our Nation, so many scenarios depicting the coming Armageddon have been pushed, prognosticated and predicted. But in all of these, our Nation still remains intact.



Though the contours of our unity may not be straight, though the lines of development may be zigzag, the tone and tenor of our discourse discordant and divergent, but the soul, the spirit and the identity of our Nation remain sacrosanct. And on this, all Nigerians of goodwill have come to a solid agreement.



The great and the revered Premier of the old Northern Region, the late Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir. Ahmadu Bello, captured this sentiment so eloquently and succinctly when he said, Here in Northern Nigeria, we have people of different races, tribes and religions who are knit together to common history, the things that unite us are stronger than the things that divide us.

In his Inaugural/Independence Address on the first day of October 1960, the inimitable Statesman, orator of repute and our first Prime Minister, the late Alhaji Sir. Abubakar Tafewa Balewa, left these words on marble:

We have acquired our rightful status, and I feel sure that history will show that the building of our nation proceeded at the wisest pace: it has been thorough, and Nigeria now stands well-built upon firm foundations.

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Nigerians are not united. Our politicians want us to stay in this quagmire so that they the politicians can keep looting the national treasury. Our political elite don't care about the masses. They care about themselves and that is about it. Break up Nigeria to save lives.

What is my gov doing there?
E never settle us for house finish.