By: Felix Ikpotor
Pastor Paulinus Nsirim, the Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communications, has charged Nigerian youths of the country not to allow themselves to be used as armies of negative propaganda and narrative about the country.
Nsirim gave the charge at the South-South Citizens Summit organized by the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) in Port Harcourt.
The Information and Communication Commissioner urged the youths to raise up an army that would change things in the country.
He said: “What happened with the #EndSARS will open the eyes of all Nigerians to know that time comes in the history of a people when the masses will rise up to challenge dictatorial tendencies.
“And I believe that the youths of Nigeria should build on the gains of #EndSARS and begin to galvanise and mobilise themselves to begin to talk about how Nigeria can be better”, he said.
Nsirim who is also the Chairman of the institute in Rivers State urged leaders of the country to realise that the time has come for a patriotic spirit that would bind people together than the spirit that divides.
Speaking on the theme of the summit which is: “Reopen Conversation, Rebuild Trust”, Nsirim said Nigerians must begin to dialogue again as brothers and sisters to rebuild trust.
“What has happened over the years is that those who gain from the dichotomy that exist along cultural and religious lines have used it to their own advantage while the majority of the masses of Nigerians suffer.
“We must tell ourselves the truth that the time has come as a people for us to rebuild our nation. Nigerians must congregate and begin to talk to ourselves as people that God brought together by his divine inspiration.
He noted that Nigeria has abundant human and natural resources but lacked the right leadership that would galvanise these resources for the benefit of all.
On his part, the President of NIPR and chairman of the Governing Council of the Institute, Mallam Mukhtar Sirajo expressed sadness at the deteriorating socio-economic and security status of the country, expressing the hoped that the outcome of the summit would encourage an agenda for a healthy dialogue for a better Nigeria.
He also charged youths of the country not to discriminate against anyone on the basis of religion or tribe, but to begin to make friends amongst themselves to foster a peaceful and united Nigeria.
The keynote speaker, Mr. Solomon Arase, a retired Inspector General of Police while speaking on the topic: “National Integration, Peace and Security,” called for a holistic reform of the Nigeria Police and the entire Nigerian internal security system and institutions to address their overlapping functions that engender budgetary wastage, inter-agency rivalry and uncoordinated approach to internal security management.
The former police chief also recommended legal and operational reforms of the present system with the objective of having a workable and efficient and effective policing system that could give prospects for internal security of the country.
Earlier, chairman of the occasion, Professor Ndowa Lale, a former Vice Chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt said the NIPR has enormous potentials to shape the opinion of Nigerians and foster the needed peace in the country.
