NAN-H-3
Unity
By Nyisom Dore
Abuja, Jan. 4, 2016 (NAN) Chief Jackson Bent, the National President, National Freight Hauliers Association (NFHA), has urged Nigerians to embrace inter-ethnic marriage as it will strengthen the bond of unity and erase stereotype among Nigerians.
Bent, who is husband to Sen. Grace Bent, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Wednesday.
“To me, that is the only thing that can bring unity in this country.
“How can I sit down, fold my arms and watch a Yoruba man being manhandled, when my wife is Yoruba, and half of my children’s blood is Yoruba.
“So, one of the instruments of togetherness and bonding is inter-ethnic marriage.
“It is the same as inter-tribal marriage, but inter-ethnic marriage is much stronger, because people could go abroad and marry.’’
He added that inter-ethnic marriage could help address the lingering problem of ethnicity in the country.
“We have come a long way. The distance we have covered in civilisation is so much that we should go beyond ethnicity and all the talk about `my people, my people’ all the time.
“America has been fighting racism for a long time and now see what has happened.
“They made a black man of African descent President of the country because they believed he could do the job.
“That is why in Nigeria today, we have highly placed individuals, who inter-married. This is because they know the benefits.
“Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, and many others are compliant because they know what it means.
“But nobody seems to be talking about it to promote it,’’
Speaking about stereotype, Bent stated that it is wrong to hold an unfair and untrue belief about members of a particular group just because they share similar characteristics.
NAN reports that stereotype is most frequently employed to refer to an often unfair and untrue belief that many people have about all people or things with a particular characteristic.
It is a standardised mental picture that is held in common by members of a group and that represents an oversimplified opinion, prejudiced attitude, or uncritical judgment.
He said: “Where I come from, we used to refer to the Igbos as people, who ate snails, which to my people, was a taboo.
“The Igbos too have their own opinion of the Hausa-Fulani people, simply because they could not understand a lot of things, which to them, were mysterious.
“This kind of beliefs can only be curtailed by inter-ethnic marriage.
“We should complement each other. That is what life should be about and that is why God made us in diverse ways so that we can interact and share our differences. And it is a positive thing.
“Do you know that some of us, who used to think that eating snails was a taboo have now become expert in eating them?
“Honestly inter-ethnic marriage is what can drive the unity of this country faster.’’ (NAN)
DOR/OSA/YEE
Edited Shittu Obassa/Emmanuel Yashim
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