The Yar’Adua Foundation, with support from the Ford Foundation is scheduled to hold a three-day retreat to promote national cohesion and build platforms to counter divisive behaviour at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Abeokuta, Ogun State.
The Director General of the Yar’Adua Foundation, Jacqueline W. Farris, stated this in a statement on Tuesday.
According to Farris, the event is scheduled for June 21 to June 23, 2018.
To be chaired by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, the retreat will serve as a platform for community youth groups and influencers to develop a comprehensive strategy to address sources of rising ethnic and religious tension in Nigeria.
Farris added in the statement: “Since the struggle for independence, Nigeria has experienced tensions and divisions between and among various ethnic identities. Efforts to manage and resolve conflicts have been deployed, but latent acrimonies and mutual suspicions remain evident due to a combination of socio-economic and political factors, compounded by perceived and existent injustice.”
The retreat will feature two sessions.
The first will be centred around: “Challenges of a Multi-Ethnic Society: Identifying Historical Impediments to National Unity,” while the second comes with the topic: “Current Manifestations of Divisive Behaviour: Countering Contemporary Threats to a United and Prosperous Nigeria.”
The opening plenary will feature performance poetry by Dike Chukwumerije, rendering: “No Culture Is Older Than Being Human,” and “Drawing Blood” by Atilola Moronfolu.
The Yar’Adua Foundation’s mission is to promote national unity, good governance and social justice by creating platforms to engage citizens, policy makers and stakeholders in national conversations that foster an inclusive and prosperous Nigeria.