“Those who make peace bring God in, but those who cause division shut Him out. To bring God in is the most righteous act that any man can perform. To wreck His sanctuary and drive God out is the most wicked thing that any man or devil can do” – E.A. Reinschmidt.
It was in 1981 that the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolutions establishing the International Day of Peace to be celebrated in all nations of the world. Since its inception, the Day of Peace is observed as an annual international event to signify global non-violence and cease-fire in all nooks crannies of the globe.
Besides, it makes it an imperative to all nations, people and race to commemorate the day, use it as an opportunity to promote peaceful resolution on conflicts as well as honour a cessation of hostilities during the day and beyond.
The 2015 Edition of the International Day of Peace actually marks the 31st anniversary of the declaration of the right of people to peace. Tagged “Partnership for Peace: Dignity for All”, it was celebrated on September 21 and sponsored by the Institute For Peace and Conflict Resolution, IPCR, in collaboration with United Nations Development Partners.
As an important stakeholder in peace and security, Nigeria observed it with a week-long programme of activities such as press briefing, Radio Jingles, Advocacy visit to media houses in Abuja. However, we have other side attractions such as Children’s Peace Cup, Peace Campaign on Social Media, days of prayers in worship centres and churches, Peace Walk and lecture.
In line with its tradition, Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution, IPCR, and its foreign partners, organised courtesy visits to agencies and institutions to create public awareness for peace in the country. The day was climaxed with a lecture, “Partnership for Peace: Role of the Stakeholders in Nigeria’s Era of Change”, delivered by Prof. Patricia Ori Donli of the University of Maiduguri.
She recalled that “ Every year, the day is commemorated by people in all parts of the world with activities that would contribute to ceasefire, end conflicts; bridge cultural divides and create tolerance in nation. Most of these conflicts come with enormous costs that touch on all members of the society in one way or the other including loss of lives and property, emotional trauma, displacements, social and economic dysfunction etc”.
According to her, peace and security are prerequisites for the economic growth and development of any country, observing that: “unfortunately, there is no time that peace and security the world over, have come under serious threat than now”. In Nigeria for example, she noted that people had been facing difficult and turbulent times since the 1980s with records of various forms of conflicts and violence that threatens the country’s peace and security.
“Beyond these, there are issues related to armed banditry and robbery, ritual killings, hired assassinations, kidnapping and bomb explosion across Nigeria. All these contribute hindrances to sustainable development and pushes peace and security further away from many Nigerians who yearn for enduring peace in the polity.”
Her paper explored the concept of peaceful coexistence, and argued that the new wave of change in the polity offers opportunities for Nigerians to work for peace. It also dwelt on the expected roles of various stakeholders to make it a reality. “Conflicts are fact of life and are inevitable. What makes it positive or negative is how we respond to them generally. At times, it tends to divert our attention from the real issue, create a pain that leads to violence”.
When conflicts are resolved without violence, it turns out to be positive and this happens when the warring parties allow opening up of discussions on the issue. An example is the militants in the Niger Delta. This can be adopted in the North East region where Boko Haram seemed to hold sway for some years now.
Irked by the spate of conflicts, security challenges in the continent, African Union, AU, recently, organised a four-day retreat on enhancement of cooperation between AU Peace and Security Council and Regional Economic Communities. From observations, the forum’s emphasis focused on the promotion of peace, security and stability in Africa.
At the occasion, President Muhammadu Buhari, represented by Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, said the council has come a long way since its operationalisation in 2004 in providing Africa with an effective mechanism for the management of peace and security issues. Buhari observed that the achievements of the Council in its 11 years of existence have set it out as an outstanding best practice model, worthy of emulation by other regions in the world.
“In this respect, the council has been Africa Union’s lead response agency in tackling numerous conflicts and other security challenges in all respects, ranging from political crisis, armed conflicts to humanitarian crisis as exemplified in the council’s handling of Ebola Virus disease in some countries in West African Sub-region”.
In discussing peace and security, McNamara notes “security means development. It is not military force though it may involve it: security is not traditional military ability though it may encompass it”.
He believes that “security is not military hardware though it may include it. Security is development and without development, there can be no security. Any country that seeks to achieve adequate military security against the background of acute food shortages, population explosion, low level of productivity, fragile infrastructural base for technological development, inadequate and inefficient public utilities and chronic problem of unemployment has false sense of security.
“Here in our country, there is a religious divide, Muslims and Christians. It has seated and rooted in Nigerian polity. Over the years, we have been grappling and trying to cope with the problem of ethnicity on the one hand, and the problem of ethno-religious conflicts on the other. It seems it has become a permanent feature here, and this has resulted to the killings of hundreds of thousands of people in such clashes.”
Similarly, Prof. OriDonli disclosed in her paper that from 1999 to date, conflicts have claimed and displaced over 800,000 persons. She cited the 1967-70 civil war, ethnic/religious conflicts in Kano, Zangokataf, Ife-Modakeke, Tiv/Jukun, Nassarawa crisis, Aguleri-Umuleri to drive home the point.
“From the North East region, the activities of Boko Haram trailed by death and destruction spread to the North West, North Central, FCT and Eastern part of the country, and have given way to reprisal attacks on the innocent citizens of the country. For about 5 years now, more than 12,000 people have been killed, while thousands are maimed and injured because of the insurgency with more than two million internally displaced persons, (IDPs).”
Earlier, the Director General of the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution, IPCR, Prof.Oshita O. Oshita noted that every year, “this day provides Nigerians an opportunity, at individual, community and institutional levels, to reach out to those we think have offended us or are fighting us, with an Olive branch. This is the only way people of good conscience can stem the tide of violent conflicts confronting the world today. The world is threatened by unimaginable violence and atrocities against humanity in different continents, involving different countries and demographics”.
Oshita maintained that: “in Africa, the ECOWAS region and in Nigeria, we are confronted daily by diverse acts of violent extremism with grave consequences for the inalienable rights of the ordinary people to a secure life and personal safety.”
He drew attention to the fact that sustainable peace can only be built through effective partnerships between individuals, communities, institutions, and states; they have a stake for peace in a given context or environment. “We need to build functional and inclusive alliances, synergies and networks for peace, without which mankind will continue to be mutually vulnerable to violent conflicts.”
This clearly underscores the fact that every governance decision has implications for the peace and security of the society. It requires genuine democracy and the free flow of information and it could lead to disarmament. Government would have to build the defences of peace in the minds of the people every day through education, science and technology.
In this direction, the federal government must constantly plan for peace; work for peace and make peace takes place in the north, south, east and west. The reason is that we must all let the fountain of peace to flow from the hearts and souls of the citizens. It means we should take peace for granted in our society.
William Pierson Merrill once said “The world will be safe and secure in its peace only when nations adopt the principles of Christ and play fair within them”. This can happen in a nation because Christ Jesus is the embodiment of peace. He is interested in seeing people living in peace, promote and propagate the same in all ramifications.
Today almost on a daily or a monthly basis, there is a fresh conflict situation, or a relapse of post-conflict. Do you know that violent extremism presents problems in internally displaced persons, IDPs and refugees over our country? Is the government’s promise to heed early warning and action aimed at preventing disagreements, and making peacemaking and post-conflict peace building a priority?
When all of these are comprehensively addressed that we should be able to say that we are on the way to achieving peace in Nigeria. We can achieve peace in our hearts, in our homes and in our nation but this requires love for one another, love that will overcome all the artificial and create fault lines. We are made to know that peace is the highest good we can exhibit, live by it and promote it to all and sundry.
culled from guardian.
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