Benjamin Auta
2 October 2008
The popular saying that a "hungry man is an angry man" re-echoed last Sunday at the major harbinger of conflict in the North Central States of the country as Nigerians of all walks of life converged in Abuja to celebrate the International Peace Day.
The International Peace Day which is normally celebrated on September 21, every year had its theme for this year as the "economic empowerment of women and youths as critical instruments towards sustainable peace."
However the Justice Development and Peace Commission (JDPC) of the Catholic Church and the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) in Nigeria, two non governmental agencies, while marking the event in Abuja localised the slogan to "empowering women and youths for peace" in the North Central States.
According to the Chairman, Group of Coordinators for the Abuja province which comprises seven provinces in the zone, Reverend Father Bernard Asogo, everybody must be involved in conflict and peace resolution.
He attributed the incessant conflicts in the North Central zone to climate change, poverty and hunger which he said have not been well addressed by those in authority.
"The growing human population demand more food, but are threatened by poor harvest, which is due to climatic change and general environmental degradation," he said.
He added that food prices have soared from 100%-300% beyond the reach of the average Nigerian which has made communities fight over land ownership as lives and properties are destroyed leaving the women and youths as the worse hit individuals.
Father Asogo also said that about 65%-71% of Nigerians are 'food insecure' as they cannot access the amount and variety of food that would guarantee a healthy and reproductive life which results in malnutrition and the possible death of about 3.5 million children annually.
He added also that 40% of Nigerian children under five years-old are stunted, 9% are wasted and 25% are underweight and, "when these conditions are exacerbated by violent conflicts, the prospects of positive change can hardly be conceived."
Although Nigeria has at least 14 million active smallholder farmers in the nation's agricultural sub-sector, only about 0.2 density use tractors as most farmers still till the land manually.
"Only 30, 000 tractors are available for use in the country as Nigeria imports 45% of wheat and 84% of its rice and in the face of high cost of imported food products, poor Nigerian families are compelled to spend 80% or much more of their earnings on food," he added.
He said that his organisation (JDPC), in partnership with the GTZ, wished to address such problems i.e. food insecurity by calling on all three tiers of government to improve the performance of micro, small and medium enterprises to create income and employment.
Also, policy makers in government and non-governmental sectors as well as stakeholders in the microfinance industry should be called upon to effectively address the situation.
Speaking also, the JDPC Coordinator in the Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja, Grace Osofodunrin, in a speech, said that the framework for entrenching peace as it affects women and youths socially, economically and politically, include enhancing self dependency, human dignity, facilitating economic activities, reduction of marginalisation and oppression among women and youths as well as the reduction of militancy and prostitution.
She said that unless the government and well meaning Nigerians and CSOs give the people a purpose for living by keeping them busy and distracting them from indulging in activities that could disrupt peaceful co-existence all developmental efforts might be in vain.
"Peace is life itself since it is a product of justice and freedom. In essence therefore, peace lies at the heart of human existence and who could be more comforting than a good woman," she reiterated.
She said that the rally organised in conjunction with the GTZ is to sensitize the government, public and private sectors of the economy on the need to empower women and youths by providing jobs, healthcare facilities, education of the girl-child, and provision of amenities among others.
Also speaking, the Vicar, Social Service, of the Abuja Archdiocese, Reverend Father Innocent, said that in line with this year's theme of "empowering women and youths" the archdiocese of Abuja is making moves to access loans from micro credit organisations so that women and youths could be empowered economically.
"The archdiocese is making moves to access funds so that women and youths can be empowered because to put money in their hands is to empower them and this will be launched in churches in the archdiocese very soon," he said.
He however, blamed some politicians for sowing the seeds of discord between adherents of the two religions in the country, adding that until Nigerians make peace a priority, development will always elude its citizens.
Speaking also at the occasion, Katya Ment, who is the peace adviser for the GTZ, said that her organisation is working with many cooperative societies in the North Central Zone by empowering them with training and loans.
She said that peace remained a pre-requisite for any nation to develop as it would allow all factors of production to be functional.
She added that women and youths bear the burden when there is crisis in the country, therefore, there is need for dialogue and caution when sensitive issues are being discussed.
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