By Esther Onyegbula

United Nations International Peace Advocate Ambassador, Professor Nwaocha Ogechukwu, has been shortlisted for the 2022 Mahatma Gandhi Centre of Canada (MGCC) award for his unique contribution to the abolition of the caste system in Southeastern Nigeria.

The don is an ambassador of Peace from the Bureau for Peace and Conflict Resolution (Government of Imo State) and a nominee for the 2022 Nobel peace prize, the first Nigerian to be nominated for such an award.

According to a statement from the President of MGCC, Dr K. Dakshinamurti, who is an Emeritus Professor, Faculty of Medicine, University of Manitoba, stated that like many other organizations, the centre has been dormant for the past two years because of the covid pandemic and will be celebrating the Mahatma Gandhi Day this year in October.
“The MGCC has decided that this year’s Community Development Award will be conferred on Professor Ogechukwu for his unique contribution to humanity and the award will be presented at the Mahatma Gandhi Day Dinner, at the Convention Centre, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, “he said.
He added that they are considering the possibility of inviting His Excellency, High Commissioner Adeyinka Asekun of Nigeria to Canada, to participate in the event and accept the award on behalf of Professor Ogechukwu.
The peace Ambassador has contributed so much towards the abolition of the caste system in South Eastern Nigeria, which covers the entire Igbo race and Igbo society to promote peaceful coexistence.
Also, his contributions geared toward peaceful cohabitation of Igbo families advocates human right development, promote human development via social equity and human equality, and the total unity of Igbo communities for proper integration for the nation’s peace building.
He has published many peer-reviewed academic works in international journals to that effect, and as a result became the first scholar to develop three (3) phase model, as a theory, for the abolition of the caste system in Africa which thousands of traditional rulers and rural communities used for the total abolition of ” the socio-cultural prejudice that has trado- Religious root in Igbo culture.