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Rotary Club of Asokoro in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has partnered with the United States of America to train young Nigerians on becoming peace Ambassadors in their various communities in Nigeria.
President of Rotary Club of Asokoro, Ebele Ezezue-Israel who made this known yesterday at the flag off of the program, tagged; Rotary Football for Peace in Abuja, said that participants of the program cut across the 36 States of Nigeria.
She said that the program has the aim of bringing peace, hope, and oneness to Nigerians, urging Nigerians to unite as one to make the country a better place to live in. Mr. Irfan Saeed from the US Department of State, Washington, DC, explained that the program which has been three years in the making is the first program that the US Department of State is trying to do all over the world.
“In the last couple of years, we have seen a lot of people affected by COVID-19 and not been able to be together. So, this is one of the opportunities we have to bring people together with a variety of different backgrounds to ensure that we are all getting along.
“We know instances of tolerance to show that people can get along. With the partners we have here locally which are Rotary club, and Rotary International this is one of those programs we think can do to bring kids together. The fact that we have all these kids in a room today, after planning this program for three years is a success,” he said.
Project lead for the football for peace project, Nigeria, Dr. Ignatius Onyekwere, said that the club also decided to organise the program because in Nigeria in the last decades there have been issues of terrorism, banditry, kidnappings, and other issues that contributed to insecurity in Nigeria.
“We found out that the youths are vulnerable to these challenges. So we decided to bring the youths between the ages of 16 and 18 years together by catching them young and teaching them how to live harmoniously from this age in their local communities.
“We also intend to provide them with the platform to engage other youths and teach them how to live peacefully and provide security in their various communities. At this point, our youths seriously need attention, and if you give them that attention by cultivating this culture of peace and acting non-violent in everything that they do. I believe Nigeria will be a better society to live in,” he said.
(leadership.ng)
