By Emmanuel Elebeke

The failure of successive leaders in Africa to recognize the fact of pluralism has made it impossible for the different countries in the continent to unite as one people.

This was the position of the Director, Abuja School of Social and Political Thought, Dr. Sam Amadi in his keynote address at the annual general meeting/conference of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, Abuja Chapter held on Thursday in Abuja, titled: Harnessing Diversity for Nation Building: The Public Relations perspective.

He said Nigeria is currently rethinking its diversity as a result failure of leadership, saying that many countries in the world unlike Africans have been able to achieve sustainable peace and unity whether they have the same or different religious groups because they recognized the fact of pluralism, that human beings have different interest and different world views.

And therefore, he said there is need for African leaders, especially Nigerians to find accommodation in languages or acts of practices that can sustain human flourish.

According to Dr. Amadi, the failure of Nigerians to unite in diversity has to do with difficulties of organizing diversity a human society.

According to him, human beings are beings of agency and dignity, adding that human beings as a matter of fact like to promote their own interests in the midst of other interests. ‘‘They are the only thing that have ends without values, beings that maximize their own utility,’’ he said.

Buttressing his point, he said another perspective is that ‘‘human beings are social animals they seek cooperation, recognize other persons and their interest and try to achieve balance between their interest and those of other persons.’’

This, he said requires inter-dependency and solidarity and living together to become better human beings. ‘‘Diversity should be a thing of joy but and all over the world, it is becoming something of sorrow and trouble.’’

On how to manage our diversity, the ASSPT director said Nigerians must find ways to live peacefully in an enduring manner and that focus should on how to harness and manage diversity in every community.

‘‘As a plural people, leaders should engage with citizens with divergent world views.

‘‘Many countries in the world have been able to achieve sustainable peace and unity whether they have the same of different religious groups are those who have recognized the fact of pluralism, that human beings, we have different interest and different world views, and therefore, there is need to find accommodation in languages or acts of practices that can sustain human flourish,’’ he said.

In his goodwill message, the Senate Minority Whip, Sen. Philip Aduda said that the theme of the NIPR conference was a sad pointer to the assertion that Nigeria is yet to fully build a nation expected of it after 60 years of independence.

He said our huge material and human resources have not been passionately deployed to build the nation and urged that the principle of good governance should be entrenched to be able to interrogate the fact of our retarded growth and development.

‘‘Our huge natural and human advantages have largely remained somewhat a curse rather than a blessing to us. I am certain that our foundational leaders could not have envisaged that 60 years down the line, the foundational base of our nation have not been thoroughly fortified with good iron rods.’’

‘‘It is important to admit that we are still building our nation which needs all hands to be on deck to make this happen to pave way for our desired growth and eventual development.’’

He therefore, enjoined government at all levels to continue to see our diversity as a blessing and seek ways to nurture it and bring to bear the desired development of Nigeria.

Earlier in her address, the FCT Chapter Chairman of the NIPR, Mrs. Maryam Sanusi, said every individual and organizations need a PR to survive. She added that government and other professionals need a PR to reach out to their valued stakeholders.

‘‘A profession which emphasizes constant communication to engender trust, love and mutual understanding between and among our various stakeholders termed “Publics” cannot be said to be off the cuff, especially when we factor in the consequences of disharmony, distrust and misunderstanding in our relationship with one another.’’ She enjoined all organizations, individuals or government who has failed to see the importance of PR in their day to day operations to as a matter of priority, establish and entrench PR and deploy its many tools for their maximal benefit going forward.