The Universal Peace Federation (UPF) has implored Nigerians to promote unity and peace by being their brother’s keeper.
The group gave the advice at the commemoration ceremony and memorial of the Founder of the Federation, Rev. Sun Moon in Abuja.
Dr George Ikpot, Secretary-General, UPF Nigeria, said it was important for Nigerians to imbibe the culture of living for the sake of others, as it would promote love and unity in the country.
According to him, with peaceful coexistence in the country, there will be progress and development.
“The significance of what we are doing is to commemorate the 11th anniversary of Rev. Moon who passed on in Sept. 2012.
“It is important that we do this because as this event is also celebrated in more than 193 countries around the world, that is to tell you the area of influence that his activities covered.
“One other significance is to bring the understanding of Rev. Moon’s activities, his works to share with the numerous ambassadors for peace that we have in this country.
“This is because when we talk about peace, then you have to ask yourself if you are contributing to peaceful coexistence in your family, community or the nation.
“One important aspect of his teachings is that aspect of living for the sake of others, once we achieve that, then issues around corruption would be a thing of the past,” he said.
Also, Prof. Joseph Golwa, the Chairman, UPF Advisory Committee, FCT, said that peaceful living as family transcends to the society, adding that it was important to imbibe the first unit socialisation.
“As we commemorate the 11th anniversary of the founder of Universal Peace Federation there are clear ideals based on the philosophy he propounded.
“Some of which include love in the family which binds humanity together and in commemorating this founder and his views, we are talking about the ideals of peaceful coexistence.
“Peace is a choice, just like conflict and crisis are also choices that we make and from what we have discussed so far, we want to encourage ourselves to love ourselves,” he said.
For her part, Hajiya Bilkisu Adedoyin, a lecturer with the University of Abuja, said the need to live in peace could not be over-emphasized as it was the only way to bring rapid development in the country.
“Presently, we need to live as one in this country and our major aim should not be where we come from, what is your religion and so on, we need to see ourselves as one.
“As a creature of God, the love that all religions teaches is that we need to love one another because if we look at the country today, there is no love.
“If we follow the religion as it is, we need to change our character, there is need for us to take this peace and character upbringing more important among the youth so that the next generation will be better than what we have today,” she said.