By Abdul Alli
A peace loving man and one of the finest retired Police Officers Nigeria ever produce, the former Inspector General of Police and current Chairman Police Service Commission (PSC), Chief Mike Okiro has given a nod to the Peace Initiative project being championed by the Cultural Innovation Precision (CIP) noting that peace and unity can be achieved in Nigeria if all hands are on deck.
The Chief Okiro gave this charge during a courtesy visit paid on him by the Executive Team of the “Live and Let’s Live Nigeria” Peace Project. According to the elder statesman, “Nigeria’s unity and peaceful coexistence is not negotiable and for this fact, I will give my total support to any course that will maintain and sustain peaceful coexistence of our great nation, Nigeria, more importantly that this course is being championed by the youth who are the potential leaders of tomorrow. It is evident that we are close-in to the end of crises in Nigeria.
Okiro added that: “Youth are agents of change and critical actors in the prevention of crises, conflicts and unrest in Nigeria. You also have the power to sustain peaceful partnerships between stakeholders, given your numerical strength. You are a strategic partner that can connect all relevant stakeholders to achieve peace and unity in Nigeria.”
The Chairman Police Service Commission assured the Team of his support, he said: “My doors are always open as far as it is something that has to do with peace, love and unity of Nigeria.” He emphasised: “As Nigerians, we have no other place we can call our home except, Nigeria, so, we have to guide jealously anything that could jeopardise our commitment to achieve peace in Nigeria.”
Earlier in his remarks, the Convener/Project Director of the Live and Let’s Live Nigeria, Mr Samuel Ukpong Thomas, said: “Live And Let’s Live Nigeria” is a social awareness and mobilization campaign that has the prevailing challenges as its direct focus, as it seeks for a possible peace resolution to resolve the menace of the ruthless killing of innocent Nigerians who were on mission to achieve destiny by contributing their quota to the economic advancement of our dear country.”
Ukpong noted that, peace is not the absent of justice, rather it is the application of justice to guarantee peaceful coexistence of Nigerians irrespective of tribe, religion or creed. “We seek to proactively partner with all relevant authorities to help restore peace and unity in this country. He added.
According to him, “The right to life is the moral principle based on the belief that a human being has the right to live and, particular, should not be killed by another human being. He further stated that, the concept of Right to life arises from the debates on issue of capital punishment, war, abortion and public health”.
He however highlighted some of the problems Nigerian youth are facing; he charged government to looking into them with the views of finding lasting solutions to these teething problems.
His words: “Concerns like unemployment, poor education, insecurity, lack of access to resources and information, poor health care and basic services, and life uncertainty should be looked into so that young people will have opportunities of tapping into their potential and reaching their goals, so that we can be active contributors and participants in growth and development of Nigeria’s socioeconomic development.
“We are here to seek your fatherly support and endorsement in order to achieve this project, as we strongly believe that youths are the tools that are being used to perpetrate all these social vices. We have resolved to tackle it with education, innovation, culture and tourism.”
In his contribution, the Chief Security Officer of Live and Let’s Live Nigeria Peace Project, Chief Marcel Ezenwa highlighted reasons why Chief Mike Okiro is strategic to the Peace project. According to him, “Chief Mike Okiro has performed creditably well as a detribalised Nigerian; he reinstated a good number of officers who had been forced into early retirement regardless their tribes, religion and creed, he also made police service more open, receptive and responsive to troubled spots in the country.”
He added that, during his active service years as IG, he introduced the registration of all SIM Cards in the country in order to have a record of every user, initiated the Amnesty Programme for the then restive Niger Delta Militants, introduced the Anti-Terrorism Squad, introduced the Police Games, he also introduced Police Housing Scheme as well as forced Commercial banks to introduce CCTV cameras, bullet Proof Bullion Vans and Bullet Proof Doors to reduce bank robberies in Nigeria. “All these are tilting towards achieving peace in Nigeria”. Ezenwa said.
A Cultural Unity Ambassador’s Award, 2017 titled: National Icon for Good Leadership” was presented to Chief Mike Okiro by the Peace Initiative Project Brand Consultant, Ambassador Roland and Queen Hyelayiti Aliyu Ibrahim who is the Face of Culture Beauty Pageant, Northwest, 2017 under the auspices of Stizz Events and Entertainment, the organiser of Face of Culture Nigeria/Africa Pageant in recognition of his roles and contributions towards a better Nigeria.