To foster social cohesion in the country, the Kukah Centre with support from MacArthur Foundation, has engaged the youths on inclusivity, as an essential stepping stone to social unity.

The one-day peace forum brought together critical stakeholders, including youths, traditional and religious leaders, media and business communities. The Executive Director of Kukah Centre, Abuja and Head of Secretariat for the National Peace Committee, Rev. Atta Baliindo, said the forum is aimed towards providing a platform for youth to hold an impactful discussion on the issue of social disharmony.

“ It is important for us to have a conversation around social cohesion, national identity and common citizen in Nigeria, every country in the world constantly has challenges with identity.

“In Nigeria, what we saw in 2023, particularly in Lagos, was worrisome. If you look at the history of Nigeria from the colonial times, it has always been difficult for Nigerians to have a platform and the opportunity to sit and have conversations about their country and how we can develop and move forward.

“After the 2023 general elections, owing to the things we witnessed particularly in Lagos, we got support from MacArthur Foundation to come to engage critical stakeholders and have a conversation about Identity, politics, social cohesion and common citizenship”.

The Commissioner for Youths and Social Development, Mobolaji Ogunlende, called on stakeholders to collaborate with the state government to foster social cohesion as the government could not do it alone.

“Since 1960 till date, we thought that social cohesion should have materialised but we discovered that tribal sentiment played a vital role in the 2023 elections.”

Also, Asabe Ndahi, said the forum was starting in Lagos because almost all the tribes in Nigeria live in Lagos. “We must learn to live together, tolerate one another and have mutual respect. Social cohesion is a deliberate effort, some countries that have successful social cohesion are deliberate about having it and Nigerians must also work toward it.”

She added that many youths no longer believe in Nigeria.”Many of the stakeholders who bought into the project didn’t believe in Nigeria. They think we cannot do anything to make Nigeria better. They want to leave the country, they are not interested in building Nigeria, so when you say you want to build social cohesion in Nigeria, they think it is impossible.”

Film Maker, Author, Ben Chidika, called on the government to spearhead the campaign on social cohesion, noting that trying to marginalize people is harmful.
“It is important we start having this conversation to deal with the issue before it gets out of hand because if we continue to pretend that we don’t have these challenges. It’s like living in a fool’s paradise. I’m so grateful to the organisers of this programme.

“By trying to marginalise any group of people in Nigeria, we are doing ourselves harm. Can you imagine the amount of people and manpower we have lost to other nations simply because of things like this if we are not careful, we are going to lose more,” he said.