Divisive Politics Greatly Affecting Nigeria’s Unity, Former Nigerian President Jonathan Says
Former President Goodluck Jonathan says too much emphasis on divisive politics has greatly affected the unity of the country stating that the West African nation cannot be restructured without the challenges polarising the country being addressed.
Dr Jonathan stated this on Thursday at the ‘Daily Trust 18th Dialogue’ which was centred around restructuring.
He said Nigerians have intensified the calls for restructuring because the federal system of governance handed to the country by the British can no longer accommodate the complexities of the country.
Jonathan said he believes that the divisive politics currently obtainable in Nigeria has greatly affected the nation’s unity and not the amalgamation of the then northern and southern protectorate in 1914.
“Within these six decades, our political space has assumed many colourations. We have gone from the 12 regions to 36 states and 774 local government councils and moved away from when the different regions had different arrangements to manage the local government level to a unified local government system across the country.
“Yet, all that do not seem to have provided the answer to the questions of the administrative structure of our country and how best it should be governed,” Mr Jonathan said while declaring the dialogue open in the nation’s capital Abuja.
He further stated that “as president, I had the privilege of celebrating our nation’s golden jubilee in 2010 and the centenary of our amalgamation in 2014.
“When we were to celebrate these milestones, some Nigerians saw our intention, arguing that the amalgamation was faulty. They insisted there were no reasons to celebrate because they believe the amalgamation has not helped the growth of our country.
“My belief is that all nations have their unique history; the amalgamation is not the problem in my belief, rather, there was too much emphasis on divisive politics and this has greatly affected our nation’s unity.
“As a country, we have our peculiar challenges and should devise means of solving them but we should not continue to tilt our spleen on the amalgamation.
“My conviction is that discussion on restructuring will not help except we restructure our minds because some of the challenging issues at the national level still exist at the state and local levels.
“How do we restructure to make sure that those things don’t happen again? This shows restructuring alone may not solve all the anomalies in our system. I believe that restructuring for a better nation is good but there are other fundamental issues we should also address.
“We cannot restructure in isolation without tackling the challenges that polarise our nation. These include nepotism, ethnic and religious differences as well as lack of patriotism. The issues of tribe and religion have continued to limit our unity and progress as a nation.”
[18:48, 21/01/2021] Chuks Hi: President Biden Reverses Trump’s Immigrant Visa Ban on Nigerians
US President Joe Biden has reversed and lifted the immigrant visa ban imposed on Nigeria and other countries by former president Donald Trump, his predecessor.
Biden reversed the ban on his first day in office and directed the State Department to restart visa processing for individuals from the affected countries.
Trump had last February placed an immigrant visa ban on Nigeria, citing Nigeria’s lack of a robust database. The American Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary-Beth Leonard, stated at the time that Nigeria must improve on its data intelligence to ease the investigation of its citizens wishing to migrate to the US, if it wants the ban lifted.
First issued as the Executive Order 13768 of January 25, 2017, the ban was amended several times in the face of numerous court challenges, with the final version barring citizens of seven countries: Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, Venezuela, and North Korea.
In January 2020, Trump signed fresh a proclamation that included Nigeria, though not as severe as those for the seven countries covered by the preexisting travel ban.
While it still allowed Nigerians to visit the US, citizens were, for the most part, barred from settling in the US permanently.
Chad Wolf, acting secretary of the department of homeland security, had said the travel restrictions were imposed on Nigeria and six other nations to “address security concerns in the way the banned countries track their own citizens, share information with the U.S. and cooperate on immigration matters”.
But hours after assuming office as 46th president, Biden issued an executive order that reversed the travel restrictions, saying “immigrants have helped strengthen America’s families, communities, businesses and workforce, and economy, infusing the United States with creativity, energy, and ingenuity”.
According to Bloomberg, “the ban that Biden ended blocked entry to most people from Iran, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Somalia and North Korea. It also restricted immigrant visas for people from Nigeria, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar and Eritrea as well as for certain others from Venezuela and Tanzania.”
It said the new executive order seeks to review other “extreme vetting” practices used by the US under the Trump administration to improve travellers’ information-sharing with foreign governments.
It, however, reported that Biden’s “ambitious” immigration policies, which also seeks an eight-year path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, could face obstacles in congress.
