Hammed Shittu in Ilorin.
Foundation for Peace Professionals also known as PeacePro at the weekend said about 70 per cent African nations are more peaceful situations than United States of America.
Executive Director of the organisation, Mr. Abdulrazaq Hamzat, stated this in Ilorin at a press conference yesterday on the sideline of the maiden edition of Africa Peace Insight (API) report in Nigeria, popularly known as the giant of Africa.
He said that, “The report is also based on the online public presentation which had 129 participants.
Hamzat stated: “The report named Mauritius, Sierra Leone, Botswana, Equatorial Guinea and Tunisia as most peaceful countries across the 5 subregions of Africa and it equally listed South Africa, Sudan, South Sudan, Mali and Democratic Republic of Congo as least peaceful countries across the sub region.”
He noted “the Africa Peace Insight is an extracted report from the Global Peace Index (GPI), produced by Australia based Institute of Economics and Peace (IEP) to contextualize, simplify and further breakdown the GPI from a continental perspective”.
Hamzat explained that, Africa Peace Insight report spotlight ongoing conflict in Africa including the situation in ECOWAS led West Africa and the ongoing crisis in Sudan, review findings of Global Peace Index, presented Africa as a single entity by extracting North Africa rating from Middle East as done by the GPI, outline the most and least peaceful countries across the sub region and provide recommendation on pressing peace-building concern in the continent”.
While commenting on the review of Global Peace Index, the report says that more than 70 per cent of the continent is more peaceful than the United States, despite the huge challenges in the continent, adding that no African country is amongst top 3 least peaceful countries in the world for 4 consecutive years.
It also noted that Africa is the epicenter of global crisis, as the Ethiopian civil war recorded more death than any other conflict in the world, yet it wondered why the continent didn’t get commensurate relief support compared to Ukraine, which had less casualties.
Hamzat also outline the five major observation of the Africa Peace Insight.
According to him, foreign military presence is directly proportional to proliferation of arms and growing insecurity in the continent.
The report noted that, “despite the huge mineral exploration taking place in the continent, it doesn’t receive commensurate economic returns to clean up its environment, create economic prosperity and provide employment for its teeming youth population.
“Africa Peace Insight concluded with 2 major recommendations, which is to de-militarize Africa through ending all foreign military presence within a set time frame and developing a joint continental gateway to global mineral market”.
While speaking at the programme, Mrs. Zulfah Jubril Sanni from the Gambia University of Science Engineering and Technology (USET) who reviewed the report said that the Africa Peace Insight report mirrors the reality of the continent.
According to Zulfah, The Gambia was listed as 4th most peaceful country in the report and she said that it reflected the peaceful nature of the country.
“While the country may not be as developed and rich like Nigeria, the general life style of the people is built around contentment and social cohesion” she said.
Zulfah also maintained that, the false perception of secessionist agitation in many African countries has been exposed as lacking depth, as demonstrated in Sudan.
“In spite of the separation of South Sudan from Sudan, both countries are still amongst the least peaceful countries in the continent, with both having an aggravated internal crisis, far beyond the situation they had before their separation. She said.
Furthermore, the youngest lawmaker in Nigeria, Hon. Rukayat Shittu while also reviewing the report stated that, the media has a huge role to play in giving positive reports about Africa more prominence.
According to her, the review of the Global Peace Index in the Africa Peace Insight report brought a new perspective to the report.
She said, media should deliberately seek out positive aspects of any report or situation to uplift the continent, rather than echoing the narrative of foreign media or being fixated on negative stories.
Rukayat stated that, “PeacePro has led the way in this aspect and that’s why we are now learning new facts about the Global Peace Index, which many thought outrightly concentrated in misery in the continent”.
She concluded that the Africa Peace Insight report has already started yielding results, since those participating in the program are already having a different view and perception of the continent through encounter with the Africa Peace Insight.
Participants at the program include Honourable Shina Pellar, a former member of the federal House of Representatives in Nigeria, Hon Maryam Yusuf Aladi, a member of the Kwara State House of Assembly,
Others are, the national president of the Congress of NOUN Students (CONS), Comrade Shakir Kareem, Comrade Surajudeen Adeyemi, Amb Peiro and other leaders of youth organizations were also present.
