OHAZURUME - Unizik Journal of Culture and Civilization

The concepts of hostility, conflict, crisis and violence have been topical right from the origin of man. The implication therefore is that war and hostility is almost as old as human being. Unarguably, the historical accounts of human existence are replete with orgies of wars and its attendant consequences. Most times it takes both covert and overt forms and sometimes it takes either of the patterns. Many are yet forget the horrible accounts of the first and second world wars, the holocausts and other killings across the world. The formation of the United Nations Organizations (UNO) after the Second World War has not deescalated all forms of war among various nations and global blocks. Here in Nigeria, despite the abundance of natural, material and human resources the country is richly endow with, religion and ethnicity have unarguably continued to shape the sensibility of the citizens. The avoidable Nigeria/Biafra civil war, the protracted ethnic conflicts between Ife and Modakeke in Osun State, Aguleri and Umuleri in Anambra state, Jukun and Tiv in Taraba state, the killings by Maitatsine, Sharia and Boko Haram zealots across the northern parts are some of the ethno-religious conflicts that have seriously questioned the oneness of Nigeria as espoused by her forebears. Regrettably, governments at all levels seem to be more interested in launching military actions and spending huge on amassing ammunition but spending little or nothing on peace-building. The end result of these acquisitions is seen in the escalation of conflict, promotion of violence, intolerance, injustice, instability, impunity, abuse of human dignity and rights as well as the empowerment of men with unfettered access to arms. War can be compared to a game which one can understand its beginning without knowing its ending. Virtually, everything in life has alternative(s). The alternative to war can never be war rather peace. This paper x-rayed the value, importance and promotion of peace-building as a medicine that can counteract the poison of ethno religious conflicts bedeviling the country.

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