THE Violence Prevention and Awareness Network (VIPAN) in collaboration with the United Nations Information Center and Bond F.M 92.9 recently commemorated the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue & Development.
The collaboration was to raise awareness about the need to learn about others, shift focus away from oneself and recognise the value that is in other cultures, languages and religions. The workshop, themed “Understanding Cross Cultural Diversity in Peace Building” took place at the Igando/Ikotun LCDA Event Hall, Ikotun, Lagos.
The workshop kicked-off with a short welcome address by president of the organisation, Olajumoke Israel, in which she admonished youths to shun violence of all sorts, see themselves as the future of the country, as well as the missing peace of the world.
The aim of the workshop was to sensitise the general public on the causes of violence and issues around it,
There was a short documentary on the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi in Rwanda. “Dreams of the Future & Ubumuntu”, and next, the keynote speaker, Dr. Segun Bolarinwa of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) gave a talk on cultural pluralism and peace.
“When we promote the importance and benefits of cultural pluralism, we promote peace, oneness and the right of others and all these bring about development in the society,” Bolarinwa enthused.
There were panel discussions by students on causes of violence in the society; lessons learnt from the video clip, chief amongst which were that conflict is inevitable but there should be room for dialogue and peaceful mediation, and that citizens should love one another, be selfless and place more value on life.
One of the groups’ also discussed solutions to the causes of violence and concluded that Nigerians should keep positive mind in all situations, tolerate one another and imbibe responsible parenthood amongst others.