The Splendour Child Empowerment Foundation, an NGO, says the organisation has began the domestication of peace clubs in schools across the country in a bid to curb terrorism.
Ms Splendour Joe-King, the Founder of the organisation disclosed this when she featured on the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum in Abuja.
Joe-King explained that the domestication of the peace clubs was necessary so as to change the mindsets of the youths toward peace, starting from the secondary schools.
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According to her, if the youths have the mindset of peace, they will not want to join any terrorist group because they already know that it is extremely bad for them.
“ My major achievement is the peace clubs which I instituted in different schools in Nigeria because you look at everywhere around you, you hear different news about death of people through bomb blasts.
“ And also violence is creeping into the schools in the form of bullying because most of these children don’t understand that violence is not the answer to every single thing.
“ Violence cannot get you anywhere, it is only going to make you worse so that is why I started establishing this peace club to domesticate peace in schools,’’ she said.
The founder, who established the foundation at age nine, said that the initiative was birth from the happenings in the society as a result of killings.
She noted that the country would soon begin the journey of electing new representatives to pilot the affairs of the country for another four years.
She said that it was therefore necessary to champion the campaign of sensitising the youths on the dangers of getting involved in violence as well as being used by politicians for electoral gains.
“ We are not hearing news that gives us joy; we are hearing another war coming up, we are hearing different things coming up.
“ We are hearing bullying in schools, we are hearing the death of children also in schools, are these things giving us peace, no.
“ That is why this peace project is birthed at such a time and considering the 2023 elections that is coming up and the fact that youths will want to rob themselves in violent activities.
“ That is why this peace project is there to tell them that you involving yourselves in all this violent activities is extremely dangerous to your health,’’ she said.
The 16-years old National Peace Ambassador further said that the organisation had also taken its campaign to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp to educate the youths about the dangers of terrorism.
She added that if the peace project came on board, it would bring national development and investors could now invest in the country.
“ I have seen that this peace project which I am doing is going to yield extreme feat in the future.
“ I remember one of the quotes from our founding fathers, late Chief Nnamdi Azikiwe, where he said that violence has never been an instrument by our founding fathers to solve political problems.
“ That quote got me thinking that yes through this project I am going to achieve great in the future because I am trying to establish the fact that violence can never be the answer to anything.
“ I am trying to establish the fact that you want to go for an election, you do not have to inculcate violence into it.
“ You don’t have to fight, it is not a do or die affair, you cannot use violence because if you kill this people now, who are you going to lead.
“So, I am seeing it yielding fruits in the sense that through the peace club which I am doing and trying to see that violence is being eradicated from the root,’’ she said.
She expressed optimism through the peace project, every citizen would walk freely in the country without fear of being kidnapped or killed and as such breed peaceful environment and prosperity. (NAN)
