Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has opined that blame
game by Northerners was partly responsible for the backwardness of the region.
Abubakar, who urged the North to stop the blame game and
focus on developing the region like others, made the observation while
presenting a paper titled “The Challenge of Unity, Diversity and National
Development: Nigeria at Crossroads’’ at the Banquet Hall, Nigeria Airforce
Conference Centre, in Abuja.
The former Vice President also said Nigerians must continue
to live together as one country amidst the seeming pervasive climate of
disunity.
According to Abubakar, “If people get disillusioned, and in
frustration, they embrace and imbibe all sorts of views, beliefs and ideas
including ones that suggest that people from the other ethnic, religious or
regional group is responsible for their woes.
“Today, the three northern zones are the most backward.
Instead of us to blame ourselves, we are blaming the south.
“The (former) Senate President was saying we fought civil
war about 50 years. When you fly today from the north to the east, they have
rebuilt their own east. We have not even rebuilt a hut in the north.
“We are still living in such huts but they have rebuilt the
east and then we blame them for rebuilding their own homes.
“But the most germane question is: must we really continue
to live together as one country amidst such pervasive climate of disunity,
which is impeding our development?
“My prompt answer to this is yes, we should remain together,
because it is the best option, and because we will be stronger, greater, and
better in one piece than in pieces.’’
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