By CHIOMA OBINNA
Unless urgent steps  are taken to nurture peace among the children, the spate of violence across the nation will continue to rise and development will remain a mirage, according informed observers opinion.

In the last few years, the world and Nigeria in particular, have not known peace.  There have been crises almost in every country of the world. In Nigeria, there have been an upsurge in terror-related attacks which have led to loss of lives and properties.

Violence in the country has taken a different dimension to the extent that Nigerians, due to fear of the unknown,now sleep with their eyes open. The scale and intensity of violence are said to have increased in Nigeria over the past few years. Bomb blasts, abductions, assassinations to mention but a few, have become  common occurrences in the country. Violence now pervades the Nigerian social and cultural life.

*School children listening attentively to instructions just before the poster contest commenced

Also, abduction, which used to be associated with the agitation by the Niger Delta youths against environmental degradation and socio-economic deprivation, has become a tool for economic gain. Today, violence has made Nigeria to become one of the most dangerous zones in the world. Rioting, violence, kidnapping, looting, killing for rituals and shedding blood of innocent people are now in vogue.

Observers say all these could be traceable to the fact that this generation has simply thrown away that portion of the Bible, which says, “train… a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it”. Parents who are supposed to be initiators of peace no longer pay attention to their children. The situation has not only affected the individuals but development and peace in the country.

Unfortunately, eager as Nigeria is to develop, the lack of peace and spate of violence across the nation may not help matters. Development and progress can only be achieved when there is peace, free of conflict over unemployment, free of political greed, resources and above all when the children who are future leaders know about peace and promote it themselves.

It was against this backdrop that children from over 20 schools in Lagos were recently brought together for a ‘Peace Poster Contest’ of the Lions Clubs International, Multiple District 404 Nigeria.  The Contest with the theme: “Children Know Peace”, was part of the strategies to promote peace in the world and Nigeria in particular.

According to the Multiple District Council Chairman, MDCC, Lion Jaiyeola Balogun, the Peace Poster Contest which was founded 20 years ago is essentially to draw children’s attention to the essence of peace all over the world.

In the contest, the children are expected to express in graphic form, love and peace all over the world and the one that best expresses this would be adjudged the winner.  The programme holding simultaneously throughout the world, according to Balogun, would have all the winners from each country brought together on a continental basis to compete and the overall winner in the world would emerge.

Noting that promoting peace among children would bring back peace in the country, he called parents to go back to their role as primary initiators of peace saying that “children who grow from parents who are always at peace with each other are bound to appreciate peace”.

In a chat with Vanguard Metro, VM, the District Governor, Lion Kola Oyekanmi, also stated that the annual programme was also to showcase the creativity in the children that symbolises peace and also stimulates peace in the society.

Oyekanmi who stated that the 20 contestants from the various schools are between the ages of nine to 13 years said: “The programme was another strategy by the Lions Clubs to catch them young, particularly, now there is violence in every nook and crannies of the world”.

In his submission, former District Governor, Prof. Ayoade Adesokan, said the choice of children was the fact that they are undiluted, unpolluted and could report things the way they see it.

His words: “If at this stage they are taught of peace they will promote peace in the world and all of us will believe them. That is why we chose them”.

On the benefits of the programme, Adesokan who spoke extensively on the need to inculcate peace in the children, said: “Where there is peace, there will be progress. Where there is no peace, there will be famine, no development and progress.  You can see that in Iraq, Libya and Jos.  Everybody liked to go to Jos in the past but in the last few years, nobody wants to go to Jos because of the crisis there”.

Adesokan who stressed the need for government to pay more attention to activities that promote peace, particularly among children said there is need for government to tackle the issue of unemployment because when the youths are gainfully employed, the politicians will no longer use them as thugs, adding: “Government should also use the various security agencies to promote peace”.

Chairperson, Peace Poster Contest, Lion Omotunde Johnson, who described peace as a state of harmony characterised by lack of violent conflict, lamented parents’ inability to pay attention to their children. Johnson urged parents to monitor their children according to the Bible and the Koran.

She advised that: “Children should be positive and say no to violence. “There should be peace and love in the whole world regardless of religion or nationality.  We must all speak for peace, as it has no voice; peace never comes easily, it takes time, efforts and patience for it grow and stay alive”.