By ABAH ADAH
The World Peace Organisation (WPO) has identified the prevailing herders-farmers crisis in Nigeria as the most serious threat to peaceful co-existence and national cohesion.
The Resident Country Director of the international peace body, Ambassador Olumuyiwa Babalola, dropped the hint on the occasion of Unveiling and Presentation of Special Advisers, SAs, with the mandate to assist in the the process of peace building at the federal and local levels of government in Nigeria.
During the programme which was put together by WPO and the Diplomatic Mission Peace and Prosperity (DMPP) in Collaboration with the National Orientation Agency, NOA, and held Thursday at the Merit House in Abuja, 16 WPO ambassadors drawn from across Nigeria were inaugurated as National Peace Advisers, NPAs, while 13 other others, including the President of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) Comrade Chris Isiguzo, were inducted as Peace Ambassadors.
The Country Director and Chief Host, Ambassador Babalola, noted with concern that the prevailing insecurity on all fronts ranging from banditry and kidnapping to farmers-herders feuds across the country as well as insurgency in the North, militancy in the Niger Delta, and political violence in the South East had left the country so backward in terms of national and socio-economic development, hence WPO deemed it imperative to support the efforts of government towards lasting peace by deploying its peace building mechanisms.
“It’s our belief that lasting peace can only be achieved through peace initiatives and mechanisms with genuine human approach. Hence the invention of the idea of Special Advisers on Peace Matters, as it’s the first of its kind in Nigeria and Africa at large, to assist government in securing sustainable peace at federal, state, and local levels for national unity and growth.
“Things cannot continue like this;Â government must address the current situations with the objective of securing significant improvement through Peace initiatives and mechanisms. The World Peace Organisation and Diplomatic Mission Peace and Prosperity in Nigeria has taken it as an obligation and a responsibility of call to service to work with the present administration of His Excellency, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, President, Federal Republic of Nigeria by supporting his policies and reforms towards building lasting peace across the country,” he said.
According to Prof. Damilola, WPO’s peace building process is multi-pronged with special focus on intra-/inter- community relations and close monitoring of the uninhabited spaces- the bushes where perpetrators of conflicts and violent crimes largely operate while involving other stakeholders like the forest guards.
Delivering the keynote address, Ambassador Mala Usman, director, Administration and Human Development, Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) represented by Shafii Ndanusa, also an Ambassador, advised all to see the issue of peace as a collective responsibility that is central to the socio-economic growth of any nation and do everything possible to promote it anywhere in the country and adjoining ones.
In his acceptance speech on behalf of the SAs and Ambassadors, the NUJ National President, Comr. Isiguzo, expressed gratitude to the organisers for their recognitions as ambassadors and advisers on Security, urging the co-awardees to preach, practice, and live peace wherever the find themselves in a way that would complement government effort at achieving lasting peace for the country.
On her part, The Chairman, Lagos Chapter Council of Knights, Dame Adetope Tychus, who happened to be one of the SAs, urged the colleagues and all who strive to achieve enduring peace for the nation to do so by promoting peace begining from the individual family level, noting that peace in every household would always radiate and snowball into national peace.
