Violence: NGO trains Nasarawa youths on peaceful co-existence, religious tolerance

Violence: NGO trains Nasarawa youths on peaceful co-existence, religious tolerance
NAN-HG-1
Peace
By Awayi Kuje
Keffi (Nasarawa State), Jan. 16, 2018 (NAN) Beyond Boundaries Legacy Leadership Initiative (BBLLI), an NGO, in collaboration with Niwano Peace Foundation, Japan, has trained 15 youth leaders in Nasarawa State on peaceful co-existence and religious tolerance for national development.
This is contained in a communique issued to newsmen on Tuesday in Keffi by the Executive Director of BBLLI, Mr Omaga Daniel, and the Public Relations Officer of BBLLI, Mr Mpakaborai Numbere, at the end of its five-day Diversity for Peace and Development Project Training for 15 youths in Nasarawa state.
The NGO said that the training was to educate the youths on the importance of peace and stability as well as to promote peace among the various ethnic and religious groups in the state.
It added that the training was to fulfil a segment of one of its core mandate of promoting peace and unity as well as advancing the role of youths in leadership and governance in Nigeria.
“The training was impactful to beneficiaries and trainees who with eagerness are looking forward to sharing their experiences with members of their immediate communities through preaching the message of unity, peaceful co-existence and religious tolerance.
“We hereby affirm that the NGO is immensely grateful to the Niwano Peace Foundation, Japan, for partnering with us towards achieving a stronger peace and stability among local communities in Nigeria.
“The partnership came at a time that the current government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has invested heavily on national security via purchase of hardware, training and retraining of security personnel, intelligence gathering, knowledge sharing and technology transfer without commensurate output.
“Since the youth constitute a high percentage of people involved in acts of violence along the lines of tribe and religion, our organisation was a timely intervention aimed at addressing the involvement of youth in such acts.
“The training adopted a blend of civic education, religion, language and conventional teachings towards addressing the needs of participants to be stronger and better advocates of peaceful coexistence among Nigerians as an effective tool of fighting and conquering diverse social ills, economic imbalance and social injustice.
“Since every incidence of unrest in the world thrives on the tripods of illiteracy, high unemployment ratio and little or no access to civil orientation, the Nigerian situation is no exception hence community leaders and youth have been sufficiently educated on the importance of peace and stability as basic ingredients to achieve development,” the communiqué said.
The BBLLI expressed its appreciation to Niwano Peace Foundation, Japan, for sponsoring the training and for supporting peace and stability in Nigeria and look forward to more opportunities in the future to partner with her.
The NGO said that its remain committed to its core ideals of championing a knowledge based participation of youth in leadership and would continue to effectively partner with relevant agencies towards fulfilling the mandate or peace promotion.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) learnt that the 15 selected youth leaders were drawn from Keffi, Akwanga and Lafia zones of the state are expected to step down the message of peace and ethno-religious tolerance in their various communities for the period of nine months. (NAN)
AKW/MST
Edited by Muhammad Suleiman Tola