The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) said on Wednesday it would hold a National Peace Summit to discuss the spate of violence and the state of insecurity in the country.
The National President of the congress, Mr Waheed Omar, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that the summit would hold mid-August.
Omar said Nigerians were more alert now more than ever before because of the fear of the unknown.
?He called for an end to the spate of killings in parts of the country, stressing that Nigerians were tired of the killing of their loved ones.
Omar said the summit would see the gathering of major stakeholders, including religious institutions and traditional leaders to discuss the way forward.
He said that the summit would also discuss how Nigerians could live peacefully.
According to Omar, NLC will not involve the Federal Government at the summit until the security issue is discussed extensively by Nigerians.
“We are looking at 26, 27 August. The scenario we want to create is, everybody should come with what he holds and believes in; but Nigeria is the meeting point.
“How do we fuse in all these things and now continue to live peacefully as we used to without interference with whatever the other person has as his own personal identity as opposed to the major unified identity as Nigerian.
“Of course government must be involved but not at this very stage because we wouldn’t want it to be politicised in any way.
“ Let it be pure Nigerians’ who are committed to the peace and unity of Nigeria that will come and discuss openly, apportion blame wherever blame is to be apportioned; at the end of the day,? we say okay, having said all these, what is the way forward. ”?
Omar said the situations in Jos, Plateau, were different from the happenings in other parts of the country, stressing that the crises situation must be addressed squarely.
He said the summit would strive to find a sustainable solution to the security challenges in the country and that a colloquium would be held on the first day of the summit followed by a peaceful street match by all the stakeholders on the second day.
? “This is just to show that there is nothing wrong with Nigerians living together as one irrespective of the religious, ethnic or political differences. ’’