Ethnicity, bane of Nigeria’s development – Onyema

Founder of the Foundation for Ethnic Harmony in Nigeria (FEHN), Mr. Allen Onyema has charged Nigerians to drop ethnic sentiment and commit themselves to a united and peaceful nation.

He pointed out that ethnicity has been the bane of the country and promised to deepen his activities towards promoting the principles of non-violence and peaceful coexistence in the country.

Onyema, who is the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of Air Peace, spoke after he was conferred with an honorary Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) at the 9th Convocation Ceremony of the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Anambra State on Saturday.

Onyema, according to a statement on Monday also donated N70 million towards the university’s infrastructure project and pledged the setting up of Nigeria’s first Centre for Non-violence and Peace Studies in the institution.

Regretting that ethno-religious conflicts were pulling the country apart, he said, “I want to help education. I want to fight the incidence of violence and ethnicity in this country. The greatest bane of our development is ethnicity. That is why I want to set up the first Centre for Nonviolence and Peace Studies for them (Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Anambra State) by collaborating with the university and making it an elective course for students, so that people will start learning how to manage conflict.

“Conflict is a catalyst for change but it depends on how you manage it. The institute I want to set up here will help Nigerians with the ways and means of managing conflicts to achieve better results”.

The Air Peace boss, who said he was proud of his contribution to dousing ethnic agitations in the Niger Delta and other flash points in the country through his organization assured that he was determined to fix the challenges of the nation’s aviation sector with his airline.

He urged the Federal Government to resist the temptation to set up a national carrier, insisting that experience around the world had proved that the model was at best a drain on lean public resources.