By Fatima Saka
The president and chairman of Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), Mallam Mukhtar Z. Sairajo said the enormous task on the roadmap in achieving national development through objective impact on the environment is to identify challenges and collectively engage all relevant stakeholders to reverse the ugly trend of downplaying the country.
Sairajo stated this on Tuesday in Abuja at the ongoing Citizens Summit for National Integration, Peace and Security which started on 22th Monday to end 25th Thursday this year.
Speaking on, the president stated that the Summit is a product of research conducted by the Governing Council of the Institute to identify factors responsible for the current sad and unfortunate developments in our country.
“The outcome revealed a widening trust deficit at three levels between government and the citizens, between and among the various ethnic and socio cultural groups and generally among the citizens, as communication among them has taken a nosedive.
“The research also revealed a collapse of core national values, citizens’ despondency and apathy on issues of national development. These have tended to weaken the fabrics that have held us together as a people.
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“The content and character of the summit are carefully designed to build national consensus, promote national cohesion, and facilitate the process that will ensure peaceful co-existence among citizens on a sustainable basis. The summit is also intended to rebuild trust, and lay solid foundation for a new and prosperous Nigeria.
“We need not to look far to see that relationships amongst our people have broken down, resulting in mutual suspicion and diverse forms of antagonism, and driven by ethno-religious and other primordial differences that have become the face of our common heritage.
“Nigeria needs more than a shot in the arm in this regard. No nation thrives and progresses in an atmosphere of hatred and distrust. The Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) recognizes trust as a key element in nation-building and the role of dialogue in societal well-being and development, and decided to take up the challenge of rebuilding the broken,” Sairajo.
In his Remarks, Chairman Access Bank PLC, Dr. AJoritsedere Awosika expressed that the choice is ours, but the consequences are not ours alone to bear.
The chairman of Access Bank further quoted Sukarno the Indonesia’s first President, “We must all build National Unity, build all revolutionary forces, into one powerful wave to sweep away our main enemy political imperialism and economic imperialism.”
“We need to leverage every tool and every sector to foster national integration. The crucial role of the economy, for one, in fostering national integration has been thoroughly undermined. In a country where the economic resources are scattered across the various regions, there is a dearth of regulations and regulatory bodies that will aid the movement of goods and services.
“In Nigeria, however, national dialogues have not always been well implemented; and at other times citizens have wanted them, but governments haven’t recognized their importance. In instances where their importance has been recognised, the resolutions or promises haven’t been followed through, he added.
