… Inducts New Members
Natho Brown, Port Harcourt.
The International Association of World Peace Advocates (IAWPA) has unveiled the maiden edition of its flagship peace advocacy programme, “Peace Begins with Me”, in Nigeria.
It witnessed conferment of the prestigious Eminent Peace Ambassadors award to deserving personalities, and induction of new members into the body of IAWPA.
The event, which took place in Port Harcourt, brought together eminent personalities as awardees, while inducting new members into its fold.
It had as its special Guest of Honour, the Executive Governor of Rivers State, Sir Siminalayi Joseph Fubara.
Speaking with our correspondent at the sidelines of the event, Director of IAWPA in Rivers State and Chief host of the unveiling of “Peace Begins with Me” in Nigeria, Amb. Juliet Ifeoma Nwokocha, said, “Today, we are telling people in the world that peace will only be effective if you as a person have peace inside of you.
“When you have peace inside of you, you will be able to give peace to people, you will be able to maintain peace in the society, you will make sure that everything you do is peace”.
Eminent Amb. Nwokocha, one of the awardees at the event, was honoured with the Honorary Doctorate Degree from the St. Thomas -a- Beckett University, Canterbury, England.
Keynote speakers at the global event noted that the event was historic and timely, as it is coming when the word is looking for peace.
Speaking on behalf of the Chairman of the occasion, Amb. Chidinma A. described peace advocacy as “Simply working towards transforming the culture of violence to a culture of peace”.
The Managing Editor of a Port Harcourt based tabloid, “The Newswriter”, Amb. Beauty David Nteugot, was also inducted into the IAWPA World Peace Advocates as a UN Eminent Peace Ambassador.
The appointment came in recognition of her selfless service to humanity through good governance, peace-keeping efforts, exemplary leadership skills, prowess in conflict resolution, and promotion of African culture within and outside her community.
According to Dr Juliet, the programme was put together under the auspices of the United Nations, being an affiliate of the UN.
She also revealed that membership of IAWPA is not open to all and sundry.
In her words, “we first of all identify people with credibility, we do not allow criminals, not people with bad public records, and we do not admit people who defraud other people. You must be somebody that should be proud to be in the public without people pointing accusing fingers at you. If not, I won’t be here, somebody will say ‘what is she doing there on TV?’ So, we appoint only credible people”, she said.
IAWPA’s mission is to ensure that peace thrives in all sectors of human endeavor across the 193 member states of the United Nations for socio-economic development, investment and provision of assistance to internally displaced persons and physically challenged people in the society.
Its vision is to be the best in promoting the universal principle of United Nations Global Peace Mission at the International, Regional, National and grassroots levels.
Its Ethical practice is to discourage violence and disunity using dialogue as an instrument for peace, prosperity and progress.
Recipients of the Eminent Peace Ambassador Awards are expected to participate in all United Nations Events anywhere in the world before the end of the year.
