One Nigeria Summit: Theme: Towards A More Perfect Union.
Date: 16 September 2017 17:00Venue: Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, (Knafel Center) 10 Garden Street, City: Cambridge , Ma 02138,United States.
Within a decade of gaining its independence from Colonial-Britain, Nigeria suffered a setback: it endured, from 1967-1970, what came to be known as the Nigeria-Biafra Civil War. An untold number of innocent civilian were killed, and the human suffering that suffered lasted many decades. Forty-seven years after the end of the war, Nigeria has yet to coalesce as an invisible nation-state.
In the last two decades – and more so in the last decade – groups and groups of individuals in all the six geo-political regions have been calling for and working towards the breakup of Nigeria into four or five autonomous nation-states. The most vocal of these voices are Nigerians of Igbo extraction who support Biafra. Of grave concern are two recent events: the activity and pronouncement of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB); and the ultimatum given by the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, (AYCF) to Igbo to vacate northern Nigeria by October 1, 2017.
For many Nigerians and observers of the Nigerian political landscape, the country is seen to be drifting towards another round of anarchy, and perhaps, civil war. At the very least, it is helping to widen the gulf and compounding Nigeria’s march towards a unified country.
As the world focuses on the separatist issues in Africa, with particular attention to Nigeria, it is important that we start asking and answering the right set of questions. We must be able to systematically connect the processes or lack thereof that lead to the emergence of divisive forces across the country.
The One Nigeria Summit presents that unique opportunity. It is targeted to all, but focuses particularly on Nigerians and friends of Nigeria. The summit presents an opportunity to discuss aspects of these divisive challenges and celebrates what is unique to Nigeria and its citizens.
At the summit, you will gain information and knowledge about critical separatist issues confronting Nigeria in particular and the sub-Saharan African region in particular, and the best practices and emergent solutions from global experts, technocrats and organizations.
The summit will allow for a vibrant and analytically driven discussions and lectures on political grievances, socio -economic imbalances and all-inclusive policies which caters to our diversity, our culture, and national identity.
A brief summary of the summit’s sub-themes is outlined below.
· Challenges of Governance in an Era of Separatist Agitation
· An Unfavorable Investment Climate Compounded by ethnic jingoism and secessionism
· The Quit Notice and IPOB agitations
· Nigeria`s Democracy and Its Diversity
· Advancing the Governance of Ethnological Space in Nigeria
Objectives of the Summit
1. Reflect on the unfolding separatist situation in Nigeria: The current political climate calls for all well-meaning Nigerians to define and agree on the core ethnic issues in the nation. This is so because there seems to be a lack of willingness on the part of the elite and the dominant ethnic groups to rework the framework on which the country operate and on which the federating groups coexist.
2. Spatial Governance of Ethnology: Nigeria must begin to acknowledge that the old ways of relating to diverse ethnicities may no longer work for organized separatist entities who operate on a transnational scale. We must begin to articulate how our management of our social, political, religious, ethnic and economic space effects the creation and governance of agitations on such large scales as evident in contemporary crisis of separatist across the country from the maritime to the Sahel regions.
3. Proffer solutions to the Separatist phenomenon: Nigeria has reached a crisis point in
which a major rethink and assessment of the tools we have in our national ethnology kit is unavoidable. Each time, however, it has muddled through with minor adjustments because the political process works for the elite few. Broader ethnic concerns, deepening regional cleavages, pervasive political discontent, profound economic disparities, corruption and separatist rhetoric can no longer be contained by the current political culture.
We look forward to your attendance and participation.
Thank you!
Emmanuel Emeke Asiwe,
Convener and Publisher of Huhuonline.com
