Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi yesterday said the loss of the culture of dialogue, caused by the long years of military rule, is at the root of the rising violence in Nigeria.

He listed unemployment and poverty as the immediate causes.

Fayemi spoke in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, at the opening of the 2012 Biennial Law Week of the Ilorin branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA). 

In a lecture entitled: "Federalism and the quest for national integration and development in Nigeria", the governor said "Nigerians lost the culture of dialogue in a period when militarisation and the primacy of force had become state policy".

He advocated the return to the culture of dialogue, adding that "this may not necessarily culminate in a sovereign national conference, although some perceive this as the only solution to the crisis of governance in the state".

Fayemi said: "Any indication that the government is willing to create the conditions for dialogue in the country will reduce the increasing level of tension, since many deprived communities believe the only language the government understands is violence. 

"The need, therefore, for a national conference as a means of reducing tension in the country is not only desirable, but necessary."

"As a panacea to the ground-swell of agitations and the recurrent outbreak of conflicts in the country, there is the need for a national conference, where various constituencies and groups will come together to renegotiate the terms of the Nigerian union and deal decisively with the nagging and contentious issues that have been animating the country in a negative manner. 

"Issuing from this is the necessity of instituting a comprehensive constitutional reform process, in which the responsibilities and preserves of the various levels and tiers of government will be fundamentally reviewed and questions pertaining to the Federation Account, the Federal Character principle, state police, fiscal federalism etc would be sorted out.

"What has compounded the recent crisis and underplayed the need for dialogue has been the influence of years of military rule in Nigeria and the exclusive personality driven projects of current civilian rulers. The militarisation of the national psyche also affects individuals in their daily lives. 

"Nigeria witnessed, especially under the last military dictatorship, intense communal conflicts that disrupted peaceful relations in several communities. Some of the conflicts have antecedents in old animosities, but many were resource-driven, spurred by impatience of unequal distribution of government resources. 

"Incidents of aggression, impatience and competition arise in domestic violence and other family disputes, over petrol queues, in the conduct of motorists and in the behaviour of the armed forces and police in dealing with ordinary people."

Ilorin NBA Chairman Rafiu Balogun decried the level of insecurity in the country.

He said: "The Boko Haram insurgency is worrisome. Many bombings attributed to the group or claimed to have been orchestrated by the group are alarming and devastating."

Also yesterday, the Ekiti State Government flagged off the Eyiyato Kero-Direct Enterprise in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital. 

Restating his administration’s determination to ameliorate the sufferings of the masses, Fayemi said the state government bought into the kero-direct initiative of the Federal Government to make kerosene available for the people at N50 per litre. 

He said: "This project is designed to make the product available across all local government areas of the state. It is not a profit making venture, but a mass-oriented programme with numerous benefits to our people. The state has committed substantial funds to the project to ensure its success.

"The product will be sold at all selling points at N50 per litre to the populace and on no account should anyone sell above the recommended retail price."

Fayemi said the distribution of the product would be handled by the Ekiti Enterprise Development Agency (EEDA) in conjunction with the Governor’s Office.

He also warned against giving the distribution a "political colouration", adding that the product is meant for all residents and not for members of a particular political party. 

The governor said: "The sight of the people on endless queues at filling stations dispensing the product at prices far higher than the recommended pump price is common in our localities and very undesirable in decent societies. 

"Excessive profiteering by dealers puts more burden on the populace, thereby putting more pressure on the little disposable income they have."

The first batch of the product will be distributed in each of the senatorial districts.