Nigeria’s former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, has said multiculturalism was designed for mankind by God, and as such must be cherished and guarded jealously.
He said this in his keynote address at the 2023 World Culture Festival organised by the Art of Living Foundation at the National Mall, Washington DC, United States of America, over the weekend.
The former president in a release issued by his Special Assistant on Media, Kehinde Akinyemi, the former President submitted that God has given mankind life with a world of diversity and multiculturalism.
He explained that the traits be sustained “because of human imperfection, greed, selfishness and dishonesty, war, violence, insecurity, poverty, criminality and evil in one form or the other pervade the world.
“Some would want to blame these on diversity or multiculturalism. And using these to point at the failure of multiculturalism. That, if I may say, is wrong. In spite of human development in science and technology from the stone age to artificial intelligence age, human basic instinct for power, position, popularity, prestige, prosperity at all costs have not changed much if at all.”
Obasanjo emphasized that to have gathered with about 180 countries “is to acknowledge and celebrate diversity which is of God. God is God of diversity and not of sameness.
“If God has created sameness in the world, it would have been a world of monotony, staleness, unexcitement, dullness and boredom. God created a world of diversity and wonder for us to enjoy and live happily in.
“In the process, we sacrifice love, kindness, goodwill, brotherhood and sisterhood, mercy, forgiveness, consideration for others and love and fear with respect for our creator.
“Gurudev, my leader, brothers and sisters all over the world, God has given us life with a world of diversity and multiculturalism.”
Obasanjo stressed that as human beings, “We have an unrelenting task of working to add love, kindness, brotherhood, humanity and humanness to the world of diversity God has given us.”
He pointed further that it was only when these tasks were achieved, “then, we will have one world of peace, common security, stability, wholesomeness, growth, shared prosperity, inclusive society and God’s kingdom on earth. That is our goal to achieve”.
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