The Worldwide Human Rights Fee has raised issues over the persistent ethnic and spiritual conflicts undermining Nigeria’s unity and stability, warning that the pattern poses a major risk to the nation’s future.
The IHRC Head of Diplomatic Mission, Duru Hezekiah, delivered this cautionary observe on Thursday in the course of the symposium themed “Unity in Range: Embracing Freedom, Equality, and Dignity for All” held in Abuja, the place the fee additionally inaugurated its new officers.
Hezekiah famous that Nigeria, with its wealthy variety of over 250 ethnic teams and greater than 500 spoken languages, holds immense potential. Nonetheless, this variety, he argued, has not been absolutely harnessed for improvement attributable to divisive forces.
“By selling inclusive governance, Nigeria can leverage its variety to drive prosperity. Range provides alternatives for cultural change and understanding, that are important for fostering unity and cooperation,” Hezekiah stated.
In a keynote tackle, authorized scholar and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Professor Mike Ozekhome, highlighted the dichotomy between Nigeria’s potential and its actuality.
Whereas the nation is commonly described as embodying “unity in variety,” Ozekhome remarked that this imaginative and prescient stays largely aspirational.
“Nigeria’s ‘coat of many colours’—its ethnic, linguistic, and spiritual plurality—ought to symbolize energy moderately than weak spot. Sadly, divisive sentiments have overshadowed our collective potential for unity,” he lamented.
Ozekhome additional critiqued systemic points resembling ethnic nepotism, underrepresentation, and institutionalized discrimination. He additionally touched on contentious matters like tax reforms, questioning the equity of Nigeria’s value-added tax (VAT) distribution system.
“A state like Lagos generates trillions in VAT however receives a disproportionately small share of the income. This inequity fuels regional discontent, but the long-term provisions may benefit all areas if correctly understood,” Ozekhome defined.
Including to the discourse, Main Hamza Al-Mustapha, former Chief Safety Officer to late Basic Sani Abacha and 2023 presidential candidate of the Motion Alliance, supplied a bleak evaluation of Nigeria’s present state.
“Nigeria has turn into a failed state by all worldwide requirements,” Al-Mustapha declared. “Our establishments are dysfunctional, corruption is rampant, and billions that might alleviate poverty are siphoned into personal pockets.”
He criticised the worldwide human rights group for its silence throughout Nigeria’s electoral irregularities and systemic failures.
“Poverty is ravaging the nation whereas rigging and institutional decay persist. The place was the human rights group when Nigerians had been handled like animals? You could converse out extra boldly,” he stated.