Nigerians Must Learn To Live Above Their Ethnicity”- Barr. Allen Onyema

By Ifeoluwa Ekpeti
Allen Ifechukwu Onyema, the chairman of Air Peace Airline, has advocated for a country that embraces the diversity in culture, urging the need for members of the community to “learn to live above their ethnicity”
This he said while speaking as a guest lecturer at the 2019 Alumni Lecture held at the University of Ibadan Alumni Multipurpose Auditorium on the 6th of December 2019.
Onyema, a certified Kingian Nonviolence Conflict Management expert, while speaking on the topic “ Nigeria and the Rise and Rise of Ethnic Nationalism “ explained that nationalism which started with our forefathers since 1960 has however not been achieved till now because the country has not harnessed this diversity in ethnicity in order to achieve the true meaning of nationalism.
The guest speaker expounded that due to his exposure at a very early stage in life to the complexities of multi-ethnicity and cultural diversity, there has been a desire in him to unite mankind regardless of their culture, creed and ethnicity.
He said “what is happening in Nigeria is that we are not fighting for each other, but fighting against each other”, adding that the problem is the inability to live beyond the diversity , and this act of division has inhibited our growth as a nation.
In a bid to achieve the true meaning of nationalism, he urged Nigerians not to judge based on culture or religion, and also to shun discrimination of any sort, be it gender or ethnicity.
On an end note, Onyema also charged the people to rise up to build a new Nigeria that they would be proud of, because now is the time to make it work.