President John Dramani Mahama has enjoined Ghanaians to live together as one people “as destiny brought us together as one nation”, saying “our ethnic and cultural diversity is a source of strength not a weakness.”

“We must reject any attempt to sow any strife and discord among us,” the president said on Thursday when presenting the state of the nation address to parliament.

“We owe it to ourselves as heirs of a generation that did this for us and perhaps even more importantly we owe it to our children and our children’s children who deserve to live in a fully developed, prosperous, free and just society,” he added.

He said the country’s history was stuffed with glorious tales of remarkable victories and successes which ought to spur all and sundry to work towards achieving greater goals.

He said: “I invite everyone, boy or girl, man or woman, rich or poor, religious believer or non-believer to shed off what divides us.

“Concentrate on the many issues that unite us as a nation and let’s work together to accelerate the progress made so far as we work to transform Ghana.

The president urged families and educational institutions to continue inculcating a sense of unity, patriotism and nationalism in the people.