INSTITUTE URGES NIGERIANS TO SHUN MISTRUST, DIVISIVE TENDENCIES

The Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) has urged Nigerians to work towards the realisation of dreams of the country's heroes and nationalists. This, they could do, by shunning 'mistrust and divisive tendencies'' in order to move the country to greatness.

Alhaji Muhammed Abdullahi, NIPR's National President, stated this in a statement made available to journalists in Bauchi on Friday on the occasion of Nigeria's golden jubilee. 'It is our ardent prayer that Nigeria will move from a theatre of mistrust to a circle of faith and ultimate renewal on the premise of shared responsibility.

'What we need now is the building and promotion of patriotic leadership capable of removing all negative barriers in our relationship with one another to enable the opening of new pages through dialogue and consensus-building to arrive at our desired destination. 'This period offers an opportunity to all Nigerians to reassess our value system to engender national development.

'It is time to rebuild our institutions of governance by repackaging and re-orienting ourselves in the quest to face the challenge of building a virile and credible country,'' he remarked. Abdullahi noted in the statement that time was ripe when the collectivity of Nigerians should vote for leaders with conscience and vision to provide a gateway for the country to earn its proper place in the comity of nations.

He said democracy should be used to provide parameters for balancing expression based on equity, and urged Nigerians to support INEC in its determination to conduct credible election in 2011. 'As we mark the 50th golden anniversary of independence, we have come a long way as a nation. Unlike what some skeptics think, many remarkable strides had been achieved and new frontiers of possibilities opened.

'It is an incontrovertible fact that some challenges abound that have continued to stifle the progress of the nation. These challenges border on institutional disorientation and systemic weaknesses as well as collapse of social values in the society. 'The existence of these limitations tended to promote ethno-religious and other geo-political cleavages resulting in intolerance and conflicting multiplicity which make governance difficult,'' Abdullahi added.