A Public Affairs Analyst, Dr Nnamdi Onochie, has told the Federal Government to use the season of the Eid-el-fitr festivities to dialogue with disgruntled groups nationwide.
Onochie made the appeal in a statement he issued in Abuja on Thursday to congratulate Muslims after the month-long observance of the holy month of Ramadan.
Onochie who is a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP in Delta State, and was a member of the Delta State Think-Tank to the National Constitutional Conference in Abuja in 2005, said that adopting the carrot and stick approach appeared the best option for Nigeria to overcome its current terror challenges.
“In line with the logic of my long-standing position and platform, government should commence negotiations from strength, using carrots and sticks, with Boko Haram, bandits, irredentists and ethnic protagonists nationwide.
“Current military actions should be augmented with diplomatic socio-economic rehabilitation, to restore popular confidence in government and our 1999 Constitution as amended.’’
Onochie argued that current developments in parts of the country demanded that government must rise to the occasion and embrace any option that would guarantee unity and peace.
He pleaded with Nigerians to rally round the government in its efforts to promote national cohesion and surmount difficult challenges plaguing the nation.
“Our diversity is our greatest strength. The huge length, breadth and multitude of our ethnicities and diverse cultures must be the primary source of our indivisibility,’’ said Onochie, who was a former Nigerian envoy to Algeria and the Philippines.
He lamented what he described as incessant cases of kidnapping and killing of people, including innocent university students, expressing his optimism, however, that Nigeria would overcome.
The analyst said that he was looking forward to being part of the solution in the next political dispensation, stressing that he would bring his wealth of experience to bear in lifting Nigeria again.
“I will reduce the high cost of living in our dear country by 32 per cent and subsequently, through the CBN and money deposit banks, increase the flow of business funding to the real sector of the economy.
Onochie,, embarked on a nationwide peace campaign last March, to promote national unity, amid escalating social crisis in the country.
He has visited many leaders of thought in parts of Nigeria, including emirs, traditional rulers and chieftains of political parties to support his vision and mission.
