Vice President Yemi Osibanjo has harped on the need for dialogue as a means for peaceful resolution of conflicts in the country instead of resorting to wars.
The Vice President stated this while speaking at a town hall meeting organized by the Ken Nnamani centre for Leadership and Development at the National War Museum Umuahia to mark the 50th Anniversary of the end of the Nigerian civil war.
Defining the Nigerian Biafra war as a national tragedy, Osinbajo noted that the “catastrophic conflict scarred the people” and made the country lose opportunities for national advancement adding that now is not the time for claims and counter claims for the remote and immediate causes of the war but rather a time for sober reflection on the country’s journey as a nation.
His words:”It is evident that the cost of resolving our issues peacefully through dialogue is far less than trying to do so through war. We cannot change the past but it is within our path to ensure that history does not repeat itself and that we’ll never again confront the awful consequences of abandoning dialogue and letting our darkest impulses drive us.
“A robust conversation remains necessary if only to enhance our self knowledge to bring closure.
What we all agree on is that this civil war of 1967 to 1970 was a defining national tragedy, a catastrophic conflict that scarred us as a people”.
According to the Vice President,”the greatest tribute that we can pay to the memories of those who made the supreme sacrifice of the survival of the new Nigeria today is to ensure that the circumstances that led to the conflict are never again reenacted”.
“We should learn from history and resolve that such quarrels will never repeat themselves again”,he said.
Osinbajo, while pointing out that the process of reconciliation and nation building is a onerous and necessary task
appealed to elders to refrain from poisoning the minds of the younger generations but spur them into taking advantage of opportunities available to them in the country as well as enable their visions and aspirations to flourish untainted by the biases of the past.
Osinbajo who described the provision of opportunities and hope for the teeming youths whom he described as energetic and dynamic as one of the challenges facing the country, extolled the South East for being home for Nigeria’s most entrepreneurial sons and daughters and restated government’s commitment to providing the Nigerian youths with tools and resources that will enable them make the most of their lives through collaboration with donor agencies.
In his speech,Abia state Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu likened the Nigerian Civil are to the Rwandan Genocide noting that unlike Rwanda which has healed from it’s post war experience to attract economic development,Nigeria has not healed from it’s post war experiences.
He therefore stressed the need for a national narrative where events of the war will be reviewed to chart a way forward for national unity.
“There is need for a national narrative to address what happened during the war so that we can shake hands and say sorry to each other and then forgive but we must know where our problems started.
“It is important because if we allow this generation to go through without the national narrative, the scar and relics in our hearts will be difficult to heal because nobody has said the truth.
“This foundation is in a good position to begin to gather and hear from the horses mouth as it were, what really happened so that we can say sorry to one another and say never again”, Ikpeazu pointed.
Governor Ikpeazu appealled to the Federal government to accord special consideration to areas that suffered serious bombardment in Abia state and the South East zones and thanked the convener, Sen Ken Nnamani for organizing the event.
Earlier in his address,the convener of the event and former Senate President,Sen Ken Nnamani said the town hall meeting was organised to address the pressing issues of the time with a spirit of civility and maturity to ensure that such incident does not repeat itself in future adding that the event will inuagurate a new era of honest dialogue that will bring healing to the land.
The event which featured an interactive session,also had President Osinbajo tour the National War Museum with a group of students from schools in the state and had in attendance the minister for Mines and Steel Development,Dr Uche Ogah,Imo state Governor,Hope Uzodinma,Abia state deputy governor,Ude Oko Chukwu,members of the state executive council as well as members of the State House of Assembly among others.
