The UNESCO Co-Chair on Peace and Citizenship at Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti (ABUAD), Prof Olaoluwa Oyinloye, has identified the need for ethnic, cultural and religious groups in Nigeria to uphold tolerance of one another’s differences to ensure sustainable peace in the country.
Prof Oyinloye said government and the people of Nigeria at national and subnational levels have roles to play to prevent mutually incompatible pursuits from degenerating into violence, loss of lives and property.
The don who spoke at the closing ceremony of a one-day Professional Capacity Building Workshop organized by the Department of Conflict, Peace and Strategic Studies, ABUAD also described constructive conflict management as a necessity factor for the attainment of peace and harmony in our society.
Prof Oyinloye noted that the workshop which had as its theme: “The Alternative to Violence Project,” was a grassroots, volunteer-led program designed to equip individuals with the tools and insight to navigate conflict constructively, without resorting to violence as well as building capacity for peacebuilding skills at micro level.
The senior academic reasoned that equilibrium of power of power helps to sustain peace and engenders flexibility in bargaining for peace to prevent a conflict situation that could trigger humanitarian crisis.
He said: “So, balance of power is one of the key ingredients to having sustainable peace in any society. There is also the need to have the tolerance and flexibility despite incompatibility.
“With religious differences, we should be able to tolerate each other even though our religion, mode of worship and other may not be compatible, there is the need to imbibe intolerance.
“Another key factor is that we should have mutual understanding of our rights, interest and intents. If we have this condition despite our divergent rights, interest and intents, then we can be talking about peace in our society.”
At the workshop, the participants through series of exercises, role-playing, and group discussions practised conflict de-escalation techniques, learnt to identify triggers and also shared experiences aimed at fostering a sense of community and mutual understanding.
