President Goodluck Jonathan, on Thursday urged Nigerians not to see themselves as “Northern” or “Southern” citizens, but as people and a race bound by the same history and constitution.
Jonathan gave the advice in Abuja at the annual National Migration Dialogue, organised by the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and internally Displaced Persons.
Vice-President Namadi Sambo, who represented the President, called for an end to the classification of Nigerians as “indigenes” or “non-indigenes” of any particular state.
“We must insist that in relating among ourselves as a nation, there are no Northern or Southern citizens neither are there citizens of any particular state in the East or in the West.
“We are citizens of Nigeria, a people and a race bound by the same history and constitution. We must continue to insist and uphold our constitution that guarantees the right of all Nigerians to live anywhere in Nigeria without any fear of economic, political, religious, or social exclusion.
“Our ethnic diversity, ideally, should be a source of strength, not weakness; a country where people freely profess and practice their respective religious beliefs anywhere within our national boundaries, without any fear of discrimination.
“The future I see is of a nation where people are no longer identified by their ethnic or religious affiliation but by the very virtue of their Citizenship as Nigerians,” he said.
According to him, the Nigerian Constitution and the recommendations of the recently concluded National Conference guarantee the right of every Nigerian to reside anywhere in the country without discrimination.
While acknowledging the role migration plays in national development, the President noted that the country has the highest volume of international migrants, and the largest remittances in sub-Saharan Africa worth 20.76 billion dollars in 2013.
He, therefore, stressed that Nigeria, while aiming to mitigate the negative impact of migration, would continually to deploy strategies to encourage Nigerians in the Diaspora to invest remittances in social infrastructure, human capital development and other activities.
He stated that his administration had made it a cardinal principle that Nigerians must be treated humanely and with dignify in any country of their residence.
On internally displaced persons, the President said he had directed that victims must be given due care and maintenance without any form of social exclusion.
Jonathan expressed the hope that the national migration dialogue would help shape Nigeria’s national migratory orientation.
In her remarks, the Federal Commissioner for Refugees, Hajiya Hadiza Kangiwa, noted that Nigeria was the first country in ECOWAS sub-region to institute the dialogue.
She said the dialogue was conceived as a strategy for mainstreaming migration into the post development agenda, and was also a derivation of the draft National Migration Policy document.
According to her, the objective of the dialogue is to provide a platform for debating the impact and linkages between migration and development thereby shaping Nigeria’s national migratory linkages.
She said the dialogue would also provide opportunity for reviewing the various operational challenges at the implementation level.
NAN reports that participants at the dialogue were drawn from the 36 States of the federation.
It also has the participation of international development partners such as the International Organisation for Migration.
DAMN TOO LATE! THERE IS NORTH , THERE IS SOUTH: THERE ARE CHRISTIANS, THERE ARE MUSLIMS AND OTHERS. THIS IS WHAT PDP HAD MADE US TO UNDERSTAND SINCE 2011. MAY THAT IS WHY THEY EMBRACED ROTATIONAL CONFUSION.
Stop ranting, even if there is north and south, Christian n Muslim etc should that be a factor to vote? The Hausa FuLanis think it’s their birthright to rule and have made things difficult for this govt… Yes we have differences but your own interest should not overshadow that of others…radical Muslims believe they should dominate the whole world and have been constituting a nuisance to humanity with terrorism…
Very unfortunately, religious, sectional and tribalistic is what PDP has turned Nigerian state into.
On your second point or ‘mispoint’ the Hausa/Fulanis had never regarded themselves as born to rule – it only appears so in the imagination of people like you,
But if you still maintain they did or are doing, then I would say that it was those that wanted to take over from them by all means, that were too DESPRATE.
So all can be said to be a matter of desperation countered by a corresponding tendency to remain for survival!
But while both tendencies are not good, the Hausa/Fulani were still very magnanimous to have brought about the principle of rotational leadership in PDP, on which people like you are now riding and so soon forgot and are talking nonsense.
Hamza please don’t proffer excuses. Even if Hausa Fulani see themselves as born to rule, so what? Everybody is entitled to his or her opinion. Its not what you think about yourself that matters, its what you DO with the thought that counts. Hausa Fulani has acted more liberally than any other ethnic entity in this country.
Jonathan please another thing nigeria us an ethnic nation and it’s people see themselves as hausa, Igbo and Yoruba this is where we are and we can’t change from this ever.
You want to be re – elected as president you can tell them projects you intend to do but stop standing the taught in its head.