The essentials of peace
to nation building
By Odimegwu Onwumere
Oyatedor was of the
panorama that peace is an integral part of human existence without which
staying healthy, being happy, memorising and meditating on what matter to mankind,
espionage of nature and embracing animals, making out hours for reading,
observing the realities of the cosmos, calculating the point where science and
the spiritual meet, enjoying millions of money, houses, cars, clothes, gorgeous
women, and every other acquisitive thing that life gives would have been a
herculean task. It was against that conception that Mahatma Gandhi, the
superlative leader of the Indian independence movement in British-ruled India
said that an eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.
Regularly, with her huge
natural resources and her smart citizens, peace was being endangered by some
persons in Nigeria through kidnapping, terrorism, child trafficking, armed
robbery, official sleaze and sundry issues. Hence, Nigeria is looking for peace
at all cost, as successive governments have not sat on their oars in the fight
against the monsters that truncate peace; efforts were being put in place to
bring peace back to the country from the honeymoon that some persons regarded
as do-nothing have sent it.
Nigeria has been doing
this knowing that peace requires an immeasurable laudable toil and the
thorniest sacrifice. Nigeria knows that peace stipulates superior intrepidness
than confrontation. Against that backdrop, it's observable that Nigeria has
always sought for peace amidst the squalls that bully her.
A testament was that at
a dinner organised on his behalf in April 2014, in Abuja, for the unveiling of
the Universal Peace Federation (a group with its 10 years experience and
dedication in building a world of peace, freedom and harmony), Alhaji Bamanga
Tukur who’s the Chairman of Nigeria Railway Corporation and the People’s
Democratic Party (PDP) National Chairman, said, “No doubt, no meaningful
development can be achieved without peace, stability and harmony. It is also
true that peace is not mere absence of war, but it is a virtue that springs
from force of character.”
Dr Chang Yang, the
president of the group, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that he was hopeful
that the leaders and people in Nigeria would embrace and support the UPF Peace
Education initiative for Nigeria, which could inspire several actions for peace
in Nigeria and put behind the story of violence and conflicts. What that meant
was that from one organisation to individuals, the clarion call for peace
restoration and building in the country was the song on virtually everybody’s
lips.
Messages for peace to
come back
Non-Governmental
Organisations (NGOs) and individuals have seen peace as a top-quality idea. The
Peace Initiative Network (PIN) was one group that was clothed towards the
promotion of peace in Nigeria, since 2004. The PIN was bent on crusading peace,
security, development, poverty eradication, human rights, democracy, governance
and inter alia, protecting the vulnerable.
In June, the Edo State
Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole at the first session of the fifth synod of
Diocese of Esan, Anglican Communion at St Andrews Cathedral Eguare Ekpoma where
he was represented by his Deputy, Dr. Pius Egberanmwen Odubu, stooped and
appealed for the reinstatement of peace, love and prosperity to the country.
In the same month,
former Heads of State, General Ibrahim Babangida (rtd) and General Yakubu Gowon
(rtd) in different developments called on Nigerians to support the government
in its fight to stop the insurrectionary in the north-east region.
General Babangida made
the call after attending the Eid prayer in Minna, the capital city of Niger
State. Gowon on his part, made the appeal in Abuja, while addressing Christian
pilgrims. The President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, (CAN) Pastor
Ayo Oritsejafor, urged the churches to start teaching Nigerians, how to use
peace as their contribution to the country’s development.
General Abdusalami
Abubakar said in a speech on May 25 2015, in Minna, while biding then Governor
Babangida Aliyu farewell that unremitting peace which was ‘enjoyed after the
general elections’ must be sustained by the General Muhammadu Buhari
administration.
On May 29 2015, former
President Goodluck Jonathan, cheering in the civic reception organised in his
honour by the Bayelsa government in Yenegoa, the Bayelsa State capital, said
that he would use the waiting part of his life for peace building across the country.
Hear him, “Having
befitted so much from the rare privilege of serving, I shall dedicate the
remaining part of my life to peace building in all parts of Nigeria. I will
urge all to support the new administration to develop Nigeria and work with the
state government to develop our own state.”
As if that was not
enough, religious leaders have been meeting incalculably to discuss religious
peace in the country. In their umpteenth argument, they saw that religious
tolerance remained the magic-potion for national development.
How peace was persecuted
On June 20 2014, then
National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, represented by Special Services
Officer, Alhaji Ibrahim Bamiye, at a forum in Lagos, dubbed – National
cybersecurity forum – confronted Nigerians with the bombshell that every
9 seconds, a Nigerian commits crime on the internet with a sharp rise in the
indices of 0.9% in the 90s to 9.8% in 2014.
Uzochukwu Mike, a
graduate from the department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering,
expressed in a public presentation on June 24, 2015 that among all, the causes
of no-peace in Nigeria, with regard to kidnapping activities, were
unemployment, poverty, corruptions, grievances, high quest for money and
passively, ethnocentricism.
He wept, saying that Nigeria
had unimaginable unemployment rate, which resulted to the unemployed taking to
crime as a means to make a living. According to him, "A news publication
company, Vanguard online news, reported on May 19, 2014, that an estimate of 60
million Nigerians are unemployed.”
Mike added that in the
same year, Nigeria ranked 136 out of 174 on the list of the surveyed countries
of corruption, which meant that the country was the 38th most corrupt country
in the world in 2014, according to Transparency International ranking.
To get out of the
conundrum
On August 3, 2012,
Suhaib Mohammed, a freelance writer who’s writing on different niche, was
aghast that the country’s unity was being woefully threatened by
ethnocentricism, sentiments and religious fanaticism. He stressed that, that
were the effects in a country with more than 250 ethnic tribes and various
religious beliefs divided across geo-political lines – of Muslim North and
Christian South.
He said, “Sentiment is
one of the major problems that are threatening the cause of unity and harmony
in Nigeria. The war of words and tribal feuds are being squabbled by Nigerians
all over the country. We must stop making sweeping generalization on other
ethnic tribes, and begin to reserve our emotions toward other ethnic groupings
if peace and unity must reign in Nigeria.”
That was even as he
highlighted the need for government at all levels to engage in massive public
enlightenment, especially the ignorant and illiterate population, about unity
and peaceful co-existence among the citizenry.
Centre for Peace
Advancement in Nigeria (CEPAN), Nigeria, adopted that strengthening local
capacities for sustainable peace and development in communities, promotion of
peaceful coexistence and harmony among people of diverse ethnic and religious
affiliations in communities, promoting peace education among children and young
people in school and out of school, empowerment of women and youth for
effective negotiation, dialogue and mediation, producing research and
documentation, reducing poverty through the promotion of good governance were
what the leaders of the country should look at for urgent eradication of the
perceived absence of peace in the country.
Odimegwu Onwumere is a Poet/Writer; he writes from Rivers
State
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