Stakeholders Urge Media, Govt to Champion Peace for Economic Growth

By Rebecca Ejifoma

Critical stakeholders have charged the media and the government at all levels to champion peace across the nation for economic growth.

They made this clarion call at Imperative of Peace for a Successful Economy virtual conference put together by the American Business Council (ABC), the Nigerian Orientation Agency (NOA), and The Nedola Initiative.

The webinar engaged groups including the media, private sector, clergy, government officials, and the public to underscore the need for a peaceful society where lives and businesses can thrive while encouraging Nigerian institutions to partake in peace making processes and programmes.

According to the President of ABC, Mr. Dipo Faulkner, there is a direct link between peace and economic prosperity, hence, the need for everyone to work together to sustain the peace in the country.

He bemoaned that “the current insecurity in Nigeria has cast a big shadow on investors’ confidence in the country, which was evidenced in continued decline of direct investment into the country.”

While cited an economic impact survey by the ABC on US companies to show that insecurity is a major concern to US investors in Nigeria, Faulkner pledged the council’s commitment to support initiatives geared towards championing peace and harmony in the country.

Speaking also, the Director General of NOA, Dr. Garba Abari, said that a country as diverse and massively endowed in human and material resources as Nigeria could not afford not to have peace.

Abari decried the abandonment of the standards put in place by Nigeria’s founding fathers towards creating a functional environment.

He said: “They worked hard to set up a certain standard of governance.

“They succeeded in creating a society that is working and functional but along the line, we messed it up. We lost focus in our governance process and procedure. We lost what was supposed to be the strength of our development.”

He listed some of the steps that could help Nigeria to return to the development track and suggested that “government at all levels must encourage participatory and inclusive governance. The country must be guided by the rule of law because no society can make progress without respect for rule of law.”

He noted: “Corporate organisations need to play an active role in promoting peace. In any society that is experiencing insecurity, corporate organisations usually are the first to fall victim because no market will open, the company will not produce, and the bank will not open. The cumulative effect of that is economic stagnation.”

The former Registrar and CEO of APCON, Mr. Garba Kankarofi, urged the media to promote peace and unity in the country.

Kankarofi enjoined media practitioners to distance themselves from “politicians who are committed to fuelling disunity and conflict. The media need to play an agenda-setting role whether we like it or not.”

He reminded the nation that nobody wins in a war-war scenario and urged media practitioners to do self-regulation regulation.