Monrovia, January 1, 2026 — President Joseph Nyuma Boakai, Sr. has called on Liberians to embrace unity, peace, and collective responsibility as the nation enters the New Year, warning that division along political, tribal, religious, or regional lines threatens national progress.
In a New Year’s message delivered Thursday, President Boakai urged citizens to see one another as “Liberians first,” stressing that unity—not division—is essential to building roads, educating children, creating jobs, and healing the nation.
“Liberians must move forward together, or we will not move forward at all,” the President said, noting that while the country has endured hardship and division, its resilience has been sustained by an unbroken spirit of unity.
The President emphasized that national unity does not require uniform thinking or the silencing of criticism. Instead, he said, it calls for respectful disagreement focused on ideas and policies rather than identity or prejudice. He warned against political hostility and urged leaders across party lines to lower tensions in the national discourse.
“Disagreement must never descend into hatred, and opposition must never become obstruction to the national good,” Boakai said, adding that leadership carries a responsibility to protect national stability, whether in government or outside it.
President Boakai also appealed to traditional and religious leaders, youth, women, elders, and members of the Liberian diaspora to play active roles in nation-building. He stressed that Liberia’s future cannot be shaped by one individual, party, or region, but through shared sacrifice and mutual respect.
Calling for what he described as “the politics of solutions,” the President urged Liberians to reject despair, renounce violence in word and deed, and recommit to peace, discipline, hard work, and patriotism. He described peace not as weakness, but as a sign of national strength.
The President expressed gratitude to Liberia’s international partners for their continued support and reaffirmed his government’s commitment to using their contributions responsibly in pursuit of national development goals.
Looking ahead, Boakai said the New Year should mark a shift from complaint to contribution, from cynicism to cooperation, and from division to unity. He reiterated his pledge to govern with fairness, humility, and integrity, while calling on citizens to renew their belief in Liberia and see one another as partners in progress.
“Liberia is greater than our differences,” he said. “The dream of a stable, prosperous, and dignified nation remains alive. What it requires is all of us.”
President Boakai concluded by urging Liberians to recommit themselves to loving and building the nation together, invoking the national call to “Think Liberia, Love Liberia, and Build Liberia.”
