The Provost of London Graduate School and Deputy Chancellor of Commonwealth University, Prof. Bruce Duncan, has called for the setting up of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Nigeria.
According to him, this will help address religious, ethnic and political crises besetting the country.
Duncan gave his recipe for restoring peace to the country in Abuja yesterday, during the 15th anniversary/ Founder's Day public lecture of the Peace Corps of Nigeria.
The lecture was entitled; "Rethinking Patriotism and Nation Building: Peace Corps of Nigeria's Perspective."
According to the guest speaker, peace seems to have eluded Nigeria because the country has "not ostracised the ghost of the past, which is causing it to tremble".
Describing Nigeria as "a mighty oak," the lecturer noted that "Africa has been marred by 20 civil wars since 1960," adding that "peace is a bridge which brings sensible people to sensible action".
Duncan called on leaders to be sensitive to the plight of the ordinary people, saying that "we have a government today that is of the people, by the people, but not for the people".
Also, the Keynote Speaker, former Minister of Information, Prof. Jerry Gana, warned that "any society that does not raise a new generation of leaders is doomed".
In his opening remarks, founder/National Commandant of Peace Corps, Ambassador Dickson Akoh, regretted that government was yet to appreciate efforts of the corps, especially in the area of creating jobs for unemployed youths.
He said: "Government should have given us annual subventions for an organisation that has taken the youths off the streets."
National Mirror