…Calls for restructuring of the country
Former president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, has blamed the rising ethnic and religious tensions in Nigeria on leadership inability to properly manage its diversity and give ethnic and religious minorities their proper place in the country.
Jonathan, who made the remark in his address at the 13th Joe-Kyari Gadzama Public Lecture said the country must consider its own circumstances and come up with a form of government that will accommodate all.
Delivering his address titled, “Redefining Democracy: Yearnings of the Minority in a Democratic Setting,” Jonathan said, “That is the only part of Nigeria where we feel has been able to manage religion and development very well. So, we must look at our own unique circumstances and come up with the right form of government”.
The former president noted that he decided to honour the invitation to speak on the state of the nation, despite the likely misinterpretation of his treatise, out of his respect for the host, Mr. Joe-Kyari Gadzama (SAN), and because a society that does not respect the rule of law would breed anarchy where life becomes nasty, brutish and short, making real progress difficult.
He stated that Nigeria now faces the challenge of managing diversity and minority interests, and that even in the legislature, it has been struggling with the task of accommodating disadvantaged groups like women and people with disabilities.
He traced the country’s problems to its foundation, saying that the growing dissent cannot be divorced from the country’s failure to manage its differences and play down on its fault lines.
He added that although the Federal Character Commission is a product of such efforts, it has not fully rectified the anomalies, having been tailored to deal with mainly the civil service.
He said in Nigeria, the complications associated with the marginalisation of minority groups and tribes were identified many years ago and efforts have been made across generations to solve the problems, including the Willinks Commission set up during the colonial era.
