Avoidable controversy over Buhari’s World Bank ‘directive’

The raging controversy over President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive to the World Bank President, Jim Yong Kim, to concentrate the institution’s economic development efforts in Nigeria on the Northern part of the country boldly underscores the widespread mistrust and disaffection among the country’s geo-political zones. The traction which the directive gained in the public space and the anger it elicited in some parts of the country are affirmations of the fact that Nigerians hardly see the country as one.

This unhealthy scenario is, unfortunately, a fallout of the widespread belief that the Federal Government has been unduly partial to the northern part of the country, where President Buhari hails from, with regard to political appointments and the siting of projects. The president must, therefore, be careful to avoid statements and actions that portray him as placing the interest of the North above those of the rest of the country, as he is the president of the entire country. Nigerians must also be nationalistic, less ethno-centric, and empathetic on the devastation of the North-East by the Boko Haram terrorist group, which has attracted aid and special interventions from even other parts of the world. 

Full story at Sun News Online.