COVID-19: CENSIC calls out task force for disregarding Nigeria's complexities

A Group known as Centre for Social and Inter-Ethnic Cohesion (CENSIC), has in a statement released in Abuja on Apr. 02, 2020, through its Director of Public Relations, Mr. Wellington Olaiya, called on the Buhari administration and its COVID-19 Task Force to respect the country's complexity by not elevating some ethnic groups over others, in its daily Covid-19 briefings in the country.


The Group's statement can be found below;

We abhor the indifference to the multi-ethnic composition of Nigeria during the press briefing of the presidential task force on COVID-19. We condemn questions asked by various reporters in Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo in a national setting that address issues affecting all Nigerians.

The Minister of Interior, Minister of Environment, the Secretary-General of the Federation and the DG NCDC who should know better did not address this flagrant disregard of the official language of Nigeria.



We wish to remind these members of the executive arm of government and the reporters involved that there are over five hundred indigenous languages in Nigeria, and the elevation of any native language above others is a threat to inter-ethnic cohesion.

We now use this opportunity to appeal to all government agencies and officials to display social intelligence in a multi-ethnic country like Nigeria and publicly denounce any action that seeks to elevate any language or ethnic group above others.



There are many print and electronic media to cater to the needs of Nigerians who do not understand the official language of Nigeria, and the use of a national press briefing to communicate in select languages is unfortunate, especially when the matter at hand is of utmost importance.

We shall not fail to undertake court action against any government official or agency that continues to disregard the official language and multi-ethnic composition of Nigeria in the course of their official duties.