Stakeholders have stressed the need to reopen conversations that could produce the needed panacea to the myriad ethnic and religious agitations currently facing the country.

They amplified the imperative for all concerned to embrace dialogue in the search for needed peace in the Nigerian polity if the nation would surmount its challenges and take its pride of place in the comity of progressive nations.

This call was unanimously made at South-South Citizens Summit for National Integration, Peace and Security with the theme: “Reopen Conversation, Rebuild Trust” held in Port Harcourt on Thursday, November 4, 2021.

The Summit was convened by the Nigeria Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) in conjunction with other stakeholders such as the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), National Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), among others in the South-South Region.

Declaring the Summit open, the Chairman of the Governing Council of NIPR, Muhktar Sirajo charged the youths to be mindful of those who fan the embers of hate and discord in the country, pointing out that “no man had prior knowledge of his tribe before birth and therefore shouldn’t fight over tribal considerations”.

In his Opening Remarks, the Chairman of the Nigeria Institute of Public Relations, Rivers State Chapter and Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Paulinus Nsirim described the Nigerian problem as “a unique one” that can only be solved by Nigerians hence no need to wait for other people to solve it.

He observed that the country was blessed with enormous resources but regretted she that lacks the right leadership to galvanize these resources and maximise it for the greater good of the people, warning the youths to “avoid those who profit from the dichotomy that exist in Nigeria” and resist their efforts to recruit them as soldiers of negative propaganda about the country.

On his part, Chairman of the occasion and former Vice Chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt, Professor Ndowa Lale listed the functions of Public Relations to include the creation, promotion and maintenance of goodwill, stressing that there was the need for sustained dialogue on national cohesion and other salient issues.

He posited that these would continually foster goodwill among the people, describing the NIPR as “a frontline institute saddled with the responsibility of promoting mutual respect and goodwill”, urging the institute to lead the vanguard of entrenching these among Nigerians.

Delivering the Keynote Address, a former Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, who was represented by Patrick Dokunmo, a retired Assistant Inspector General of Police, commended the NIPR for convening the summit, describing the citizens as the most critical factor in the national security value chain, enjoining all to place national interest above personal interest.

He also called for a robust engagement of various ethnic groups for peaceful coexistence and a total reform of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and other security agencies and a political system that will foster cohesion.

Also speaking, Vice Chancellor of the Rivers State University (RSU), Prof. Nlerum Okogbule called for peace as a necessary ingredient strategic to the development of Nigeria, clarifying, however, that the needed peace will be elusive in a system full of injustice.

The academic stated that the recurring ethnic and regional agitations in some parts of the country were a testament to the injustice in the system, stressing the need for accountability in governance, adding that “a government that isn’t accountable cannot take decisions in the interest of the people”.

Adding his voice to the dialogue at the Summit, Vice President General of the Rivers State Council of Islamic Affairs, Nasir Uhor described education as a tool that can foster national integration if fully utilized, saying that stakeholders in the educational sector hold the key to the country’s future, wondering, however, “if our investment in Education is calculated to hold our future and the vast challenges that comes with it”.

On his part, Eze Igbu Upata III of Upata Kingdom, His Royal Majesty, Eze Felix Enene Otuwarikpo, Ph.D., described the traditional institution as the custodian of the values of the people and saddled with the responsibility of unity and cohesion, pointing out that the crisis bedeviling the nation today was sequel to the unhealthy and unchecked interferences of the political class in the nation’s traditional institutions, which he asserted undermined the roles of traditional rulers.

He warned that ignoring the traditional institution in the country’s effort at national integration was tantamount to providing the wrong solutions to Nigeria’s problems, charging the NIPR to partner with the traditional institution to convene a conference that will x-ray the nation’s challenges, expressing optimism that such a conference will produce positive outcomes that will better reposition the country for greater achievements. 

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Highpoint of the Summit was the public reading and adoption of a communique, which among other things, called for immediate review of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and employment for the youths in the country.