‘Nigerians must rise above ethnic, regional suspicions’

\Nigerians have been urged to rise above ethnic suspicion and communal tensions and commit themselves to the patriotic ideals of the nation’s founding fathers.

A political advocacy group, the Patriotic Movement of Nigeria (PMN), made this advocacy in a statement signed by its national chairman Malam Abdulkadir and director of communication and strategy Dr Udenta Udenta, saying the various agitation are disrupting governance in the country.

The movement said the nation is currently experiencing deep challenges in the area of national integration and inclusiveness as different entities canvass self-cancelling sub-national agendas.

They said Nigerians must embrace the culture of peace, tolerance and dialogue in this spiritually sanctifying season of sacrifice and obedience to divine injunction.

The movement charged governments at various levels “to always work for the greater welfare and happiness of the led, and also for the people to be motivated by patriotic fervour in their agitation for a better society.”

It lamented that the political, economic and social obstacles that the nation currently encounters “stem from the sheer lack of citizens participation in policy formulation and governance trajectory and the lack of accountability by large segments of the governing class, across board, to the true needs of the people.”

PMN recommends “robust citizens’ engagement with the political and governance process, particularly in the areas of constitutional amendment in order to enable a substantially restructured constitutional text through unrelenting mass pressure on the managers of the reconstruction process.”