Nigeria demands global action on religious extremism

Nigerian on Wednesday demanded immediate and sustained global action to deal with the problem of religious extremism in some parts of the world.

Senate President, Senator David Mark, made the demand in a speech at the 127th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) holding in Quebec, Canada.

Our correspondent covering the conference reports that apart from dealing a blow on religious fundamentalism, Mark said that steps should be taken to address the crippling effects of ethnicity.

The conference has the theme: “Citizenship, identity, cultural and linguistic diversity in a globalised world.”

Mark noted that tackling religious extremism and ethnicity would help to reduce divisive tendencies in parts of the world.

He reiterated that “though tribe and tongue may differ, in brotherhood we want.”

The Senate President proposed that there should be an acknowledgement that all parts of the world are blessed with different linguistic and cultural diversities with Nigerian alone having over 250 tribes.

Secondly, he said that there should be further acknowledgement that “these nature-made diversities were not meant to divide the world, but to give it the tonic of variety which is globally acknowledged as the spice of life.”

He restated that more than ever before humanity has come to understand that despite language, ethnic, cultural, race, religious, gender as well as political inclination and economic diversities, it is through brotherhood that progress could be achieved in the world.

Mankind, he said, has also come to appreciate the more that no community, whether local or international, is an island to itself.

Culled from The Nation
Source http://www.osundefender.org/?p=49107