Child's group makes case for peace in Nigeria, Africa

By Pat Ugwu

Worried by high spate of violence in Nigeria and indeed across African countries, an international child's group, African Child Royal Missionaries for Peace and Pacifism has advocated for peaceful and violence-free activities across Nigeria.

Inaugurating the group over the weekend, the group said every Nigerian is a stakeholder in peace and tranquillity of Nigeria in particular and Africa in general.

The Child group said every African child has a right to peaceful environment, pointing out that every African child should avoid any action capable of breaching peace and tranquillity in African countries.

In inaugural speech by the Secretary of the group Pastor Jacob Agada, he explained that no meaningful development take place in an atmosphere of violence, stressing that every Nigerian should embrace peace at all cost.

Pastor Agada, a senior officer of Nigeria Police Force in his speech entitled 'Say no to violence in Africa' explained that "in as spirit of war and conquest, other forms of violent acts were formed which result to inter- tribal skirmishes. Herdsmen attacks, inter- tribal or intra-trubal and religious clashes have done great havoc in Africa.  At the moment, we have herdsmen attacks. We also have insurgents like Al- Shabab, Boko Haram and other violent activities going on in African countries. We equally have separatist agitations such as Indigenous People of Biafra

(IPOB), Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Oduduwa Peoples Congress (OPC), Niger Delta militants and that of Cameroonian secessionist group in Ambazonia. In all these violent acts, there is heavy lost of lives and property."

Explaining further he said, "in the recent time, the Oduduwa riot that erupted in Lagos streets left innocent citizens of Nigeria dead, and this was as a result of social conflict emanated from economic and political aggressions culminated with group disagreement on government sociopolitical issues."

Proffering solutions to the violent activities in Africa, the group secretary said, "it is also worthy of note that there has never been any gainful reward from war and violence. Rather, it creates a great set back on Africa and Africans. However, the best option for Africans is for them to disabuse their selfish minds and see love, peace and progress as last resorts to their human and environmental problems. We should also not allow any conflict, be it family or communal to escalate. Rather we should nip it in the bud to avoid degenerating into war."

However, in an interview with the Founder of the group, Evangelist Gideon Ogboso, he told Daily Sun that, " The group came into existence as a result of high rate of violence and conflict in African countries. For a very long time now, African countries have been enmeshed in war and communal clashes. I have been in warring countries like Liberia, Sierra-Leone and Côte Devoire.  I have seen war and have seen the sufferings African child is being subjected into due to these avoidable conflicts."

Narrating further, Evangelist Ogboso stressed that, "we are focusing on African child because we know that they are the most vulnerable during time of conflict or war. They are the ones that suffer Kwashiorkor, hunger and starvation. They are the ones being raped. They are the one that are being killed. For this reason, they should be protected. They are the future of tomorrow and as such, they should not do anything that will breed conflict even in their respective family circles.  Currently we have interest in establishing the group in other African countries. We have to train them to know the benefits of peaceful environment and equally inculcate in them the spirit of peace and tranquility in our society."

Asked what causes war and conflict in society, Evangelist Ogboso opined that, "I think conflict comes as a result of greed and idleness of our youths. That is why we lament the high rate of unemployment in Nigeria and urge government to do something about it."

One of the children who participated in the program, Master Michael Ugwu told our reporter that he learnt that war and conflict should be avoided in order to give room for peace in the society.