Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Former Governor of Oyo State, Alao Akala, and Senator Monsurat Sunmonu have been billed to attend the United Nations International Day of Peace Lecture and Award Ceremony.
The Peace Lecture and Award, which is organized by the African Foundation for Peace and Love Initiatives (AFPLI) in collaboration with Joint Communities in Bode Kumapayi, Agbala Itura, Ibadan, is scheduled to hold on the 21st of September at House of Chiefs Parliament Building, Agodi, Ibadan.
Tagged: “The Road to a Lasting Peace will bring together hundreds of security experts, traditional rulers, religious leaders, and community heads”, It will feature lectures, security fundraising, books, and award presentations.
According to a statement issued by the Founding President of AFPLI, Dr. Titus Oyeyemi, said that the programme is set towards providing a pragmatic roadmap towards sustainable peace and development in Nigeria.
He said that the state of the Nigerian nation today tends to be violence-prone and insurgency sympathetic. Cases of kidnapping and mugging for ransom are rampant and escalating on a daily basis. No part of the country is spared these brutalities. Schools and schoolchildren are often the hardest hit.
He noted that though national security is the prerogative of the federal government, states and local governments and non-state actors need to work more efficaciously in human security by coming to the rescue of their own people who are targeted by kidnappers, bandits, and hoodlums.
Oyeyemi stated that peace and security have cost just as insecurity, war, and violence have costs. It is erroneous to believe that security resources should be applied merely in fighting crimes and policing the neighborhoods for law and order. Equal resources should be allocated to positive peacebuilding by encoding NGOs engaged in grassroots peacebuilding like AFPLI.
Oyeyemi further said that as the world recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic, the need to be innovative, build resilience, and transform our world into one that is more equal, more just, equitable, inclusive, sustainable, and healthier society is imperative.