The General Assembly of Millennium Development Ambassadors and Global Educators which took place in Abuja on December 12, 2012 ended with the resolution to launch a campaign for national unity in 2013. President of the Millennium Development Ambassadors Council, Chief Justin Agudosi in his opening address called on the assembly to consider passing his suggestion as a resolution to be submitted to the Federal Government of Nigeria for consideration.
In his words: “I will like to use this opportunity to challenge us to make a greater commitment to the task of nation building as we have no other nation except this as a place of our birth. I will like to use
this opportunity to urge assembly delegates to take the focus of our discussion on national unity and integration very seriously and to make a commitment to ensuring that Nigeria remains united despite
rumors and advocacy for disintegration by a few”.
He urged the assembly to consider endorsing the recommendations for promoting national unity for presentation to the government. Among other recommendations, the assembly endorsed the following:
• In recognition of the opportunities for national unity that the FCT offers, December 12 every year be declared and observed as National Unity Day in Nigeria, where all people come together beyond religions, regions and resources to celebrate the power and mutual benefits of unity and integration to commemorate the movement of the federal capital from Lagos to Abuja on December 12, 1991.
• To commemorate the 100th anniversary of amalgamation of Nigeria, the year 2014 be declared as Year of National Unification and commence by 2013, a nationwide campaign for national unity as well as designation of key leaders in the families, schools, communities and other sectors of the nation who are making commitment to national unity as Champions of National Unity (CNU).
• As part of efforts toward national unity and integration, there is the need for the government to consider the introduction of National Unity Education programs, which should include teaching and learning of constitutional provisions for national unity, the promotion of intercultural and inter-state marriages and the training of educators to teach the ideals of national unity and integration.
In addition to the above recommendations, the assembly also endorsed endorsed for presentation to the government the need to urgently create a Non-Governmental National Unity and Development Fund to fast track our commitment to national unity and development. The Millennium Development Ambassadors tasked themselves to contribute at least N120,000 each toward the promotion of national unity and development and urged other Nigerians to support their appeal to the National Unity and Development Fund, which shall be utilized in nationwide programs toward national unity and integration as well as for implementation of nationwide development projects in 2013.
The assembly mandated its secretariat to come up with innovative approaches that will be used to look seriously into the issues of the indigenous people of Abuja as the nation celebrates the movement to
Abuja and propose sustainable strategies that will ensure that the FCT remains the center of unity.
The assembly endorsed the call on government to upgrade the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on MDGs to a status of a National Development Commission, which should work with other stakeholders to create national development goals and provide guidance to other lower level development commissions like the NDDC, etc.
