The Patriotic Action Nigeria (PAN), a Non-Governmental Organisation on Friday called on Nigerians to be in unity to have a true national development.
The founder of PAN, retired Gen. John Gbor, said the problem of ethnic conflicts in Nigeria had been compounded by the colonial legacy of national states whose artificial boundaries cut across many ethnic divides.
Gbor said that PAN was established to get Nigerians to pledge their individuals’ allegiance to the country.
“The mission of PAN is to provide a level playing ground that guarantees inclusiveness and fairness to every Nigerian to advocate his or her dream and aspiration in pursuit of fulfillment and happiness, devoid of oppression and suppression.
“Our cardinal objective is `The Unity of Nigeria,’ PAN seeks the realistic unity of all component parts of the Nigerian society into one solid indivisible nation,’’ he said.
Gbor said that PAN was an assemblage of patriotic Nigerians who strongly believe that once the majority of Nigerians unite into nationhood, most of the undesirable ills challenging our peaceful co-existence would be a thing of the past.
According to him, the unity of Nigeria is the key to our survival and success as a nation.
“The key to all Nigerian problems is unity. Once we unite and pledge our allegiance to Nigeria and accept one another as fellow citizens, there is hardly any problem we cannot solve.
“There is an adage which says, ‘divided we fall and united we stand.”
“Nigeria will remain undeveloped, ungovernable and poor until we, the citizens of the country give up ethnicity, the geo-political divides of North and South, and pledge our loyalty to Nigeria before we can begin to make appreciable progress.
“We must accept being just Nigerians as the Chinese are Chinese and Americans are just Americans and not English-American, French-American or Danish-American,’’ he said.
Gbor said that though Nigeria was faced with challenges such as insecurity, poverty, corruption among others, the Unity of the country was key to youths’ development, hunger eradication and women empowerment.
He said that all these would be possible only when Nigeria becomes united.
“As a link between the present and future generations, you are a critical partner of PAN,” he said.
Gbor called on governments at all levels and the private sector to take the advantage of the youth population and abundant natural resources for the growth and development of the country.
“The country has doubled its efforts to ensure the employment of youths. The youths are also encouraged to seek assistance from friendly banks to set up businesses for self-employment.
“Any nation that ignores its youths, does so at the expense of its very existence since the youths represent the future.
“It takes Nigerians to fix Nigeria.
“We have a choice, either to fix our nation for the benefit of present and future generations or, to continue to suffer the mess we inherited from the colonialists and the ones we have created for ourselves,’’ he said.”
He urged the media, as critical stakeholders to use the platform with a great sense of patriotism for the peace and unity of Nigeria.
Gbor said the media were expected to encourage the populace to partner with the government in finding solutions to the myriad of challenges facing the country from corruption, infrastructural deficits to criminality.
He reiterated that: “PAN seeks to partner with government, collects information at the grassroots and communicates with governments on all issues hindering or facilitating national unity”
He said that the country needed people’s constitution and not as Yorubas, Igbos, Kanuris, Hausas, Fulanis, Nupe’s, Ibibio, Anang, Ekwere, Tiv etc; or as Easterners, Northerners, and Westerners; or as Muslims or Christians but as Nigerians.(NAN)
