Salamatu-WOFAN: Celebrating World Peace Day in Kudai and London, by Prof MK Othman
Are Nigerians aware of the World Peace Day, September 21, 2024? How can you have peace when unsure of the next meal? Can peace rein in an atmosphere of hunger, poverty, insecurity, and resentment? Like many Nigerians in my class, life’s daily struggles had me forget about the historic 2024 International Day of Peace until WOFAN began preparing to celebrate it. I am aware of the overwhelming hardship in the country, particularly in rural areas where WOFAN has been significantly and tirelessly empowering women, youth, and people with special needs; I became skeptical if marking World Peace Day in such communities could make a difference. Nevertheless, I wholeheartedly accepted the invitation to be among the celebrants of World Peace Day in Nigeria and the United Kingdom, and I am happy I did.
Dr. Salamatu Garba Kano, a visionary and tenacious leader, established the Women Farmers Advancement Network (WOFAN) as a non-governmental organization in the early 1990s. The work of WOFAN is genuinely transformative. It has achieved numerous successes in eradicating hunger, alleviating poverty, and economically empowering youth, vulnerable groups, and people with special needs. WOFAN has conservatively impacted the lives of over seven million Nigerians through capacity building and entrepreneurship along the agricultural value chains across ten states in Nigeria. Now, what is the significance of World Peace Day in our frantic world of injustice and disharmony? It’s a beacon of hope, a reminder that even in adversity, transformative change is possible.
The International Day of Peace was established in 1981 by the United Nations General Assembly. Two decades later, in 2001, the General Assembly unanimously voted to designate the Day as a period of non-violence and cease-fire. This year’s Peace Day theme, ‘Cultivating a culture of peace,’ is not just a slogan. It’s a powerful call to action that reminds us of the urgent need to instill values of dialogue and mutual respect from a young age. This is crucial for a more peaceful future, as wars often originate in the human mind. These values are ideals and essential tools for building a peaceful society. They are the very essence of a culture of peace. These include respect for life, human rights, and fundamental freedoms; the promotion of non-violence through education, dialogue, and cooperation; commitment to peaceful settlement of conflicts; and adherence to freedom, justice, democracy, tolerance, solidarity, cooperation, pluralism, cultural diversity, dialogue, and understanding at all levels of society and among nations.
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WOFAN, under the leadership of the indefatigable Dr. Salamatu and with the support of the WOFAN ICON 2 Project, funded by the Mastercard Foundation, elaborately planned to celebrate World Peace Day in Kudai, Jigawa state, Nigeria, and London, United Kingdom, from September 18 to 25, 2024. The WOFAN ICON 2 Project, funded by the Mastercard Foundation, played a crucial role in making this celebration a reality, underscoring the importance of partnerships in promoting peace and community development. It’s a testament to the power of collaboration, showing that we can achieve great things when we work together.
A young tetraplegic man named Amadu Yakubu was instrumental in the community’s choice of Kudai village for the WOFAN World Peace Day celebration. Despite his physical limitations, Amadu’s journey is a testament to the human spirit, seeking dignity through work. His story, along with the stories of other community members, helps us connect on a human level and understand the impact of WOFAN’s work. The celebration ended decades of suffering due to the community’s lack of potable water and other bare essentials. Kudai is a neglected community despite its proximity (about 8 km) to Dutse, Jigawa state capital. WOFAN identified a high groundwater potential area through a geophysical survey and sunk solar-powered industrial boreholes capable of supplying over 500,000 people with potable water in Kudai and its environs. The people of Kudai and neighboring communities – women, youth, and people with special needs were mobilized, sensitized, and made into six dynamic groups (cooperatives) for economic empowerment to benefit themselves and society. A community center with a rice mill, maize flour processing facilities, and a 24-hour solar-powered energy source was established and freely handed over to the Kudai people to support their economic empowerment. Twenty-four tricycle carriers with one-and-a-half-ton capacity were similarly donated to the groups for commercial transportation of their farm produce. The physically challenged people were provided with tricycles for easy mobility, and a phone electric charger capable of charging 120 phones and 30 computers connected to a 24-hour solar-powered source of electricity was granted to Amadu, who served as an entry point of WOFAN into the community. Amadu’s episode is a story for another day. The occasion was graced by the traditional rulers, including the Emir of Dutse, His Royal Highness, Alhaji Hamim Nuhu Sanusi, eminent personalities, the Chairman of the WOFAN Technical Board, Prof. Sani Miko, and many others.
The WOFAN intervention ignited the grassroots’s spirit of self-determination and self-reliance. Speaking at the event, Dr. Salamatu Garba, WOFAN’s Executive Director, expressed gratitude for the collaborative efforts that made the project possible, noting that it aligns with WOFAN’s ICON2 Project in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation. “The Kudai Women’s Center is just one of six similar centers being inaugurated in Jigawa,” further emphasizing WOFAN’s commitment to economic empowerment and job creation. The community’s joyous mood was palpable, a testament to the power of unity and hope in Nigeria’s economic challenges.
Kudai’s episode was a great testimony to the best way to mark the International Day of Peace by creating confidence in the rural downtrodden and giving hope to the hopeless. But to Dr. Salamatu, the United Nations Peace Ambassador, it was a halfway celebration. The second half was marked in the Mercure Hotel, 71-79 Southwark Street in central London, where delegations from Nigeria, Ghana, India, Pakistan, and Bulgaria were gathered to receive lessons on team building for peace. There were delegations from Nigerian and UK university lecturers and administrators, high-ranking administrative officers, journalists, development organizations, and the private sector. Their backgrounds ranged widely in gender, religion, race, age, and experiences. Vidjea Gaikwad, an Indian UK citizen and an Education and Business Management Consultant with over 20 years of experience, served as the resource person. Dr. Bodoye, a Nigerian UK citizen, owns the training agency ‘Prospects Development Services,’ an EU and UK-accredited educational institute.
The International Day of Peace was celebrated in London by linking building a high-performing team to peacebuilding worldwide. Representatives of each country’s delegation spoke eloquently about the issue. The main lessons are as follows:
1. Given that hunger, insurgency, banditry, and kidnapping have prevented peaceful coexistence among people in Nigeria, World Peace Day could not have arrived at a better time.
2. In Nigeria, with its large population of over 200 million people, job creation is the cardinal pillar of peace in the country.
3. Ghana, as a nation, says “Agfaba,” – meaning welcome to all who seek refuge, and the country is open to collaboration, partnership, and unity. Kwame Nkrumah said neither East nor West can move forward, but we can move together with peace in our hearts and homes.
4. The need to provide employment opportunities to educated youth cannot be overemphasised, as unemployed educated people could be more dangerous in criminal activities than uneducated, unemployed people.
5. Women could be the better vanguard of peace if empowered economically with means of livelihood, as they would have confidence and positively contribute to peaceful coexistence. Every man, criminal or not, was born by a woman and can be persuaded by a woman to change his perspective and thus the narrative. The delegations concluded that job creation is a prerequisite for peaceful coexistence in the nation. Agriculture has the highest potential for massive job creation in developing countries like Nigeria.
World Peace Day was celebrated worldwide on September 21, 2024. Can we learn lessons from the celebration? We must imbibe the lessons for the nation’s development, as no human being negotiated for his race, religion, and gender with his creator.
Professor Mk Othman was a two term Executive Director of the National Agricultural Extension Liaison and Research Services, NAERLS, and is currently a Senior lecturer at the Ahmadu Bello University, ABU, Zaria.
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