President Muhammadu Buhari called on Nigerians to promote qualities that foster national unity with a view to tackling the problems confronting the country.
The president made the call at the Hassan Usman Katsina Memorial Conference in Kaduna State yesterday.
Represented by the Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Danbazau, he urged Nigerians to remain patriotic to national cause to foster better integration.
Buhari, who hailed the qualities of late Usman Katsina, described him as a consequential and courageous Army General, who mentored more than a generation of officers and men of the Nigerian Armed Forces.
Similarly, a former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon (retd.), described the late Katsina as a soldier who had total loyalty and commitment to his region.
Gowon stressed that as his boss, he can testify that General Hassan was absolute in every aspect and was called the “Governor of Governors”.
In his paper titled “Restructuring Nigeria for Greater National Integration and Democratic Stability”, a former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, said as a country, not much has been done to realize national integration.
“The fight in this country over resource control, while it may still be significant today, is really a fight belonging to the past”, he said.
According to Mr. Abubakar, even the discovery of large quantities of oil and gas in the north can only bring temporary relief but cannot change the fact that world is fasting looking to alternative and cleaner sources of energy.
The Governor of Katsina State, Alhaji Aminu Masari represented by his deputy, Mannir Yakubu, said late General Hassan Katsina had always propagated the values of education as a fundamental human right essential to ensure inclusive, equitable and sustainable democratic development.
Gov. Masari insisted that the quality of education provides people with the skills, knowledge and values they need to tackle various challenges they are likely to face in the society.
