World Peace Day: Ambode charges Lagosians to shun violence

The governor said while shunning violence, they should embrace peaceful means of resolving disputes by collaborating with government to build blocks for peace through a non-violence path in resolving differences, stressing that violence did not build peace but rather destroys and retards development.

Ambode, who attributed the steady progress in the state‎ to the peaceful co-existence of residents, said that the state government had established the Citizens Mediation Centre, CMC, to ensure sustained harmony among over 22 million heterogeneous residents.‎

Speaking a the 2016 International Day of Peace organised by the Lagos State CMC,in Lagos, Southwest Nigeria, he charged Lagosians to do everything possible to eschew violence, as the state had the potentials to experience continuous turnaround development, if the peaceful coexistence in the state was sustained.

“Peace is germane to any society that wants to develop. Peace is very important to the state government, it is very important to all the stakeholders in the state to live peacefully. It is not only to ensure peaceful co-existence but to ensure that we guarantee the safety of lives of the residents,” he said.

Ambode, who was represented by the Commissioner Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Relation‎s, Seye Oladejo, assured residents of justice and protection of their rights as the CMC and other legal agencies would offer free legal service to them anytime their rights were infringed upon.

According to him, the issues of insurgency, kidnapping, agitation, destruction of critical national assets and several others, which had continued to pose serious threat to peaceful co-existence among Nigerians must stop for the nation to move on.

“The State Government, recognising the importance of a peaceful atmosphere for a thriving economy and in achieving its laudable programmes has adopted different strategies for peaceful resolution of conflicts,” he said.

Director, Citizens Mediation Centre, Mrs Oluwatoyin Odunsanya said the state government through the centre handled 37,000 disputes cases in 2015.

She added that since no profitable development could be achieved in an atmosphere of chaos and uncertainty, the CMC would always be ready to mediate and ensure peaceful resolution of conflict in order to maintain peace and also attract business investors to the country.