21/03/2024
A WELCOME ADDRESS DELIVERED BY PASTOR (MRS) INEME BENSTOWE BENJAMIN, THE PROPRIETRESS AND DIRECTOR OF INEBEN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL, ON THE OCCASION OF THE 2024 CULTURAL FIESTA WITH THE THEME "CULTURAL DIVERSIFICATION-A VERITABLE TOOL FOR NATIONAL INTEGRATION" HOLDING AT THE SHARKS FOOTBALL STADIUM PORT HARCOURT, ON THIS DAY, FRIDAY, THE 15TH OF MARCH, 2024
The Chairman of this Occasion,
Guests of Honour,
Esteemed Parents and Guardians,
Dependable Members of Staff,
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen.
You are all welcomed to this special ceremony. The theme for this event is auspicious and efficacious in the prevailing socio-economic predicament we are in as Nigerians, and the projected mission and objectives of this school as a component/part of the macro-social system.
Firstly, culture is simply a way of life of a people. It encompasses the material and non-material aspects of civilization, involving values, ideas, customs and traditions, dances, wears, language, etc..
Secondly, diversification refers to an identification and acknowledgement of various cultures and peoples, especially in our country, Nigeria as an example. This recognition calls for tolerance in co-habitation within a territory, caring and sharing and accommodating differences in ideas and methods in manifesting oneness and unity.
Having highlighted the meaning of the main concepts for this paper, I will go straight to emphasize some basic tenets underlining this theme.
On the surface, it appears whenever there is a variety of ways of life, there is tendency for rivalry or competition, suspicious, jealousy, oppression and domination of the bigger ethnic groups over the smaller ones. However, the direction of this address is to look at the positive aspects of what is/can be derivable from the manifold blessings of diverse cultures in Nigeria.
As a unifying factor, different cultures offer different ways of tackling a problem. Why God gives us two eyes, two ears, etc.. is to equip a balancing structure to sieve sentiments from facts, falsehood from truth, to manage temperament in personality, diverge to converge sets of perception. Such mode of perception is what make life challenging and refreshing.
In times like this – the bitter, biting economic hardship in Nigeria can be turned around with a modest mindset gearing up to removing ethnic biases, stigma and stereotypes, and also streamlining all efforts toward adequate production, distribution and allocation of the dividends of democracy to all hooks and cranies of our country, Nigeria.
As an example when our national football team, The Green Eagles of Nigeria, plays a match, it brings all sections and categories of people in Nigeria to support, to win. This is patriotism in action, which is a product of cultural diversification in unity. Another example is the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) The main idea behind this programme is service for unity in diversity, through cultural identity and tolerance.
In our own little way as a growing academic institution, we teach and train our students to be hardworking, tolerant, and God fearing in the discharge of their services, irrespective of their ethnic background. We are showcasing this ceremony as a way of lending our voice to the clarion call for peace and development in Rivers State in particular, and Nigeria as a whole.
The idea/motive is to give a conducive learning environment to our teeming youth and to inculcate in them the right perception to see the beauty of having different colours in the rainbow, different ethnic groups in Rivers State, and diverse tribes and ethnic groups in Nigeria, yet all culminating to give a uniqueness of purpose that can be fashioned out as a veritable tool for social, economic, political and technological development at the Local and International levels.
The children (our pupils and students) are ready to showcase this powerful tool for unification through dressing, language, dances etc. Indeed, our rich cultural diversity is integration of unity in diverse forms of development and progress.
Nigeria shall be great again.
Ineben International School shall continue to grow and progress higher and higher in Jesus name.
Thank you for your patience in listening.
God bless Ineben International School!
God bless Rivers State!
God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
