I Support Restructuring Not Calls For Secession – Lai Mohammed Tells NIPR Conference
BY ADEYEMI AKANJI, BAUCHI – Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has declared that while he is in support of calls by some citizens of Nigeria for restructuring and true federalism, the misguided calls in certain quarters for secession is totally unacceptable to him. 
Mohammed said that that whatever challenges the nation is facing today can be surmounted through dialogue and positive reasoning and therefore appealed to Nigerians not to allow the current insecurity challenges bedeviling some parts of the country to jeopardize the unity of the nation.
The Minister who spoke on Thursday via virtual call during the opening ceremony of the 2021 Annual General Meeting of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), taking place in Bauchi, said that the federal government has put in place the necessary machinery to tackle the challenge of insecurity.
He therefore urged Nigerians not to allow today’s challenges be it in the area of economy or insecurity to disunite them.
Mohammed said; “I am appealing to the NIPR, which I consider a key stakeholder on national issues to use its powerful platform to work for the unity of this country as that task has never been more urgent than now against the background of discorded voices in the country and calls for separation.
“I see NIPR as a capable partner in government efforts to douse the tension in the land and hit the drum of unity rather than the drum of war,” he said.
Mohammed also appealed to the NIPR to raise its voice against those fanning the embers of disunity and discord in the country, saying when a country is not peaceful and secured, there can be no development.
Earlier, the NIPR National President, Mallam Mukhtar Surajo, said that the event is coming at a time that Public Relations is needed more than ever before to redirect the compass of the nation.
Surajo said that in spite of the great potentials resident in Nigeria, it is still bedeviled by so many challenges ranging from insecurity and social tension occasioned by mutual mistrust and suspicion amongst others, which he noted are avoidable and unnecessary.
According to him; “The fabrics that holds the country together are unwittingly stretched to their limits and the diversity which God has endowed the country for the good of all is being misused and abused.
“This has made it imperative for us, the public relations family to take up with more consciousness and seriousness, the responsibility managing education, building relationships and deepening cooperate best practices,” he said.
In his remarks, Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State, said that the Annual General Meeting of the institute is the first of its kind in the whole of the Northeast, adding he enjoyed the professional bond between him and the NIPR.
The Governor, who was represented by his Deputy, Senator Baba Tella expressed appreciation over the cordial relationship existing between NIPR and his administration, stressing that the relationship will not be only maintained, but also strengthened.
