“Depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it – Psalm 34:14

The Second World War left Europe in ruins. A decade of strife and distrust had resulted in a cataclysmic confrontation that left millions dead and displaced and blew up industries and infrastructure. Rebuilding required something more than willpower – it required lasting peace. And this was the first thing its leaders set out to establish. They committed to policies based on mutual trust and in 1957, signed the first treaty that would eventually give birth to the European Union and produce decades of peace and progress. Peace is a precursor to prosperity.

Nations and organisations alike experiencing internal strife and/or external aggression will have struggles without any meaningful development. As Nelson Mandela rightly said, “Peace is the greatest weapon of development anybody can have.”

Whether it’s guaranteeing physical security, pursuing a sound economic environment, validating our individual identities or protecting our freedom, peace is inevitable.

It is hard to imagine any meaningful economic or social development in present day Syria for example, just as it is to conceive of prosperity in South Sudan, where hundreds have been killed and thousands more displaced in the last month or Somalia, where decades of violence has crippled the country.

It is disheartening to know that since the waves of independence across Africa from the late 50s to the 70s, no region in Africa has been spared conflict, and in most cases violent conflict. No wonder Africa continues to trail the rest of the world in terms of economic and social development. And Nigeria is no exception. As a matter of fact, it explains why, rather than make progress, we seem to be retrogressing in most of what we do. The issue of Boko Haram, the Niger Delta militants, Biafra agitations in the east, and recently, Fulani herdsmen, are good examples of what we are talking about. We are a nation at war with itself. And this has not abated since independence. Our ethnic and religious differences, which should be a gift and a blessing from God, will turn around to be the reason for an irretrievable failure, except we do something now, and drastically too.

And when I say we, I mean Nigerians home and abroad, leaders and the led. We have to renegotiate the terms of our co-existence. And while that is going on, let’s engage our youths and empower them educationally, entrepreneurially, etc. Let’s begin to redefine a Nigeria they can be proud of. Let’s make our institutions viable and infrastructures to work.

The peace and prosperity of Nigeria depends on all of us. I appeal to our spiritual, moral and ethical consciousness; one of the greatest legacies we can give our children is bequeathing to them a country of great wealth and value, one that can only be built in an environment of peace. This is not the time to elevate our personal or parochial interests above all else. This is not the time to allow our grievances serve as a channel of destruction. This is the time to build, to institutionalise systems of justice and freedom. Let’s begin to shake hands across every divide – religious, ethnic, tribal and status. We can make this work.

Nigeria Has A Great Future

Pastor Taiwo can be reached at [email protected]