That Nigeria is a mere geographical expression and will fail is falsehood - Osinbajo
The Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, has advised Nigerians, especially the youths, to promote narratives that promote unity of the country.
Osinbajo made the call at a National Security Seminar with the theme “Unity in Diversity: Security and National Development” organised by the Department of State Service (DSS).
He said that the future of the country lay with the youth and that they must be involved in building it.
He said that he had been able to discover some “false narratives” about the country in the course of his engagement with various stakeholders arising from different agitations and quit ultimatum.
One of the false narratives, according to the Acting President, is that Nigeria is a mere geographical expression formed with the agreement of its people, and as such, will fail.
He said that such narrative was not true as it was first used for Italy, exactly a century before Nigeria was born, adding that Italy was still a “geographical expression’’ and had not failed.
“We must not be misled by some few intellectuals suggesting to us that if we do not for one day hold a conference to come together as a nation, we cannot stay together. Indeed, we can.
“Most countries of the world came together by some accidents of history in one way or the other.
“Many were put together, many were forced together, but the wise ones have remained together and united.
“The second false narrative is that one particular religion or ethnic group is more responsible for the Nigerian problems than the other, or that one is superior to the other. My experience is exactly the opposite.
“As a matter of fact, whenever you find a charge-sheet of people who have been charged with an offence, especially stealing or corruption, you will never find one ethnic group alone represented.
“You will always find an equal representation of the ethnic groups. There is complete unity in this business of stealing. You will also not find one religious group.
“You will find that there is nobody arguing about religion when it comes to this matter,’’ Osinbajo said.
He added that there was also the belief among Nigerians that they would be better off when their people were in power, saying “history and experience are of course, exact opposite of that.
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