Former finance minister Zainab Ahmed has urged Nigerians to resist any attempt by external forces to divide them along religious and ethnic lines.

Ms Ahmed stated this at the Nigeria Day celebration at the Nigerian Embassy in Washington, DC.

Ms Ahmed, who is now at the World Bank serving as the executive director for Angola, Nigeria and South Africa, served under then-President Muhammadu Buhari from 2019 to 2023.

“I think it’s very thoughtful of the Nigerian community and the Nigerian Embassy to have put this event together, and it’s very timely, because we need to tell the world that we are actually one,” she said. “We don’t need any external person, external body or external country to come and sort things out for us. We have the full capacity to sort ourselves out, and we must not allow any external parties to come between us.”

She commended the organisers for holding the event despite Nigeria’s recent designation as a ‘country of particular concern’.

“What I see tonight is unity in our diversity. We are different people, but we are also the same,” she explained. “There is no country we can call home but Nigeria. So, I’m really glad that this happened, because it brought people together. We use these opportunities to bond. We had fun in the process, but it’s important that we do more of this in different places and show the world that we are one.”

Ms Ahmed commended Nigerians in the U.S. and beyond for making Nigeria proud and flying the country’s flag high wherever they are.

“Nigerians are extremely hardworking people, outstanding in various fields of endeavour across the U.S., not just across the U.S. but across the world. We should celebrate the good that we are as Nigerians,” she said.