President Goodluck Jonathan has dismissed talk that Nigeria will disintergrate by 2015 because of religious and ethnic clashes.
Jonathan told journalists on September 12 that he was positive the West African country will soon overcome its challenges.
“As the current president of this country, I disagree with that assertion,” he said.
“Nigeria will not disintegrate. This is not the first time people will come out with such ideas.
“Nigeria may have challenges, just like other countries,” Jonathan said.
“These are major issues that affect the country.
“It is not just because people are detonating bombs or probably there are some levels of agitation in the Niger Delta, which of course, is almost under control that they begin to predict that we will disintegrate.”
Talk of Nigerian disintegrating into fractious states has been heightened by security challenges, reports claim.
An Islamic group Boko Haram recently stepped up terrorist attacks in northern Nigeria sparking fears that the security situation would deteriorate even further.
But Jonathan insisted that the challenges were not insurmountable.
“The country that will disintegrate, you can get it by the study of the psyche of the people,” he said.
“The behavior of Nigerians shows that we are not really going to disintegrate.
“People look at us because of our ethnic diversity and begin to predict that we will disintegrate.
“We will not disintegrate. I will not preside over a country that will disintegrate and I assure you that from now till 2015 Nigeria must remain one united nation.”
Jonathan’s government has reviewed the security architecture and placed an emphasis on intelligence and community based collaboration.
The Nigerian leaders said the security issue was being tackled through various channels including collaboration with member-states of the ECOWAS sub-region.
But he warned that in security challenges, “there is no magic wand.”