Mojima Etokudo, Nigeria’s Peace representative of MPPOE Intl. addresses participants at the 2024 edition of International Day of Peace.
Can UN Affiliates In Nigeria Walk The Talk Of 2024 World Peace Day?
By Nsikak Ekanem of The Independent, Nigeria
Oct 13, 2024
More often, International Days, set aside for observance by the United Nations, UN, are overwhelmed with ceremonies, even to the detriment of the core essence of which the day was so named. That notion might have informed Mojima Etokudo, Nigeria’s Peace representative of May Peace Prevail On Earth International, to address participants at the 2024 edition of International Day of Peace on September 21 thus: “We gather here today not for optics and fanfare but for the ennobling ideals of the pursuit of a peaceful world, which is the pre-requisite of our individual and collective fulfillment.”
That “collective yearnings and shared aspirations”, which he said “lies first in the entrenchment of peace” in the society is what he said had led the dedication of a day for World Peace by the UN.
The 2024 International Day of Peace in Nigeria, which was held in Abuja, was organized under the auspices of May Peace Prevail On Earth International, a non-profit, non-sectarian and member-supported body affiliated with the Public Information Department of the UN. According to Etokudo, the 48-year old organisation, founded by Masahisa Goi in Japan and headquartered in New York in the United States, has got the mandate to be commemorating the world peace day. He added that the world wide body has been at the centre-stage of “organizing the event and other UN peace observances” for over two decades so far.
Attended by clerics of both Christian and Islamic faiths, academics, politicians, music icons, including Russell Gerlach, a global music producer and peace ambassador from Los Angeles in the United States, it was a gathering of people of all walks of life at the Merit House in the Nigeria’s capital city.
In the spirit of significance of International Day, the event seized the opportunity in raising awareness, establishing unity of purpose and making solemn cries on pressing issues of challenges to, and imperative of having, peace in the Nigerian nation. Discussions where centered on the theme of “Cultivating a Culture of Peace”.
In some sort of saying that the struggle for peace goes beyond the day, Etokudo launched a call for continuous clamour for peace with this message: “The work for peace is not a walk in the park but a sustainable, sacrificial and sometimes tiring unyielding commitment towards creating enabling conditions for the wellbeing of others that we too might be well”. In his words, continuous advocacy for enduring peace, “requires resilience and commitment”.
Etokudo, whose ecclesiastical engagement within a Christian organization is predominantly on evangelism, further sermonized that “A culture of peace is a set of values, attributes, traditions and modes of behaviour and ways of life based on shared respect for human values and dignity irrespective of tribe, gender, religion, race or circumstance of birth. It is hinged on the international law principle of humanity as espoused by the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and the United Nations Charter”.
Please see Mojima’s complete report for 2024: https://worldpeace.org/2024/09/report-of-the-2024-un-idp-celebration-nigeria-peace-rep-mojima-etokudo/