By Sunday Etuka, Abuja
Vice President Kashim Shettima has implored Nigerians to live peacefully among themselves and learn how to accommodate one another.
Senator Shettima made the appeal when a delegation from the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN) led by its President, Dr. James Neminebor, paid him a visit at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
A statement on Saturday by his Spokesperson, Mr Stanley Nkwocha, said, the Vice President was responding to an earlier appeal made by the ANAN President for land in Abuja to enable the association to relocate its University to the FCT.
He said, “No matter how long the night is, it must give way to the light of the dawn. The crisis we have in Jos will soon be over. Jos is the most hospitable city in this country in terms of weather. If we can harness the potentials of Jos and the Plateau as a whole, I believe that we can transform this nation into a better place.
“In one way or the other, we should learn how to accommodate each other; we should learn how to embrace one another. My SSA Media, Stanley Nkwocha, is a Jos boy. Jos is ideal; Jos is not an ethnic identity. Some of the Hausas, the Fulanis, the Kanuris and the other ethnic groups living in Jos were born and bred in Jos. They don’t have any other place to call home.
“The beauty of the Jos experience is that we have the generality of Nigerians called Northern Igbos. He (Nkwocha) is Igbo; Owelle Rochas Anayo Okorocha is a Northern Igbo. This gentleman (Nkwocha) speaks Hausa more than I do. We also have Sir Emeka Offor and so many of them.
“I believe that we should learn to imbibe in Nigeria that culture of tolerance, of togetherness because I will rather be a small fish in a big pawn than to be a big fish in a small pawn. We are a kaleidoscope of colours; the sooner we realise it, the better”.
The VP, however asked the association to channel its request through the Deputy Chief of Staff to the President, Office of the Vice President, to enable him to follow it up with the relevant authorities.
Earlier, ANAN President, Dr. Neminebor, told the VP that there was need to introduce a new value orientation where the issue of discipline will become a culture for Nigerians, even as the association recommended the setting up of Anti-corruption Recovery Investment and Management Commission to prevent the re-looting of recovered assets in the country.
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