From Femi Oyelola, Kaduna
A former Senator, who represented Kaduna Central in the Nigeria Senate, Senator Shehu Sani, has urged citizens to collaborate and work together to curb Insecurity in Kaduna state.
He made the call during the launch of the book, “Born in Chaos: From Conflict to Collaboration,” in Kaduna, Friday.
The former lawmaker opined that the book is a documentation and a message to everyone that peace is essential in the communities.
According to him, anybody who has lived in Kaduna for the last twenty-five or thirty years has been a witness to the turbulence and the storm Kaduna faces as a people.
He noted that Kaduna state has passed through tragic, horrible, and chaotic experiences in the past, where you see human lives wasted, properties destroyed, and the concept and philosophy of coexistence were seriously damaged.
He explained that the author’s narrative is a documentation of history and passing experience of what he has seen and passed through the book written, will be useful to the future generation, who will look back on and learn from the experience for peace, unity and the collective progress of this country.
He explained that Kaduna is a representation of Nigeria because it is a multi-cultural and multi-religious state.
He said: “Our diversity should have been a source of strength and asset for our socio-economic and political advancement but unfortunately, because of the past we came from, diversity becomes the seed for disharmony among us.
“We grew up in a state where Muslims and Christians live together, a state where you cannot differentiate us based on where our faith lies, but over the years, we have seen how intolerance and faith have divided the people to an extent that, the northern part is for Muslims while the Southern part is for Christians.
“It is in this regard that I recommend that the officials of aid for education in both state and federal should share this book with children in schools so that they can learn from it.
“ I am going to purchase this book and ensure that it is found in every library in the state so that it will be available to all citizens to read, understand and promote peace in the state.”
Also speaking at the launch, the Country Director of Global Peace Foundation Nigeria, Rev. John Joseph Hayab, said the best way to address the challenge or remedy chaos is to use and promote collaboration.
Saying that people are not collaborating; people are divided and segregated, and they see each other as enemies.
According to him, in his organization, they see everyone as one person under God, they believe that everyone you meet is your brother and your sister.
He further said that he is impressed that the movement has started in publications like this book to stop divisions amongst the society to collaborate between men and women, Christians and Muslims.
“Unless the Government works with the people and accepts the people and the people receive the government and accept the government too, we won’t have this confusion.
“This is why I am challenging people to put aside the stereotype to see each other as one. We must pull down those walls of division so that our generation can live life freely”, he said.
In his remarks, Ziniyet Hillary Godwin said he authored the book to enlighten Nigerians that collaboration and partnership are keys to ending the insecurity bedeviling the state and the country at large.
