What a country needs to do is be fair to all its citizens - whether people are of a different ethnicity or gender.

The statement frames national well-being as a matter of civic justice rather than ethnic dominance or gender hierarchy. It argues that a country’s stability and legitimacy depend on equal treatment of citizens across identity lines—especially in societies where ethnicity and gender have been used to allocate power, resources, and recognition. Read in light of Achebe’s broader concerns about postcolonial governance and social cohesion, the quote implies that fairness is not merely a moral ideal but a practical necessity: discrimination corrodes trust, fuels grievance, and weakens the shared sense of belonging required for a functioning polity. The emphasis on both ethnicity and gender widens the critique beyond one axis of exclusion.