The Words of the Oko Family
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The Words of the Oko Family |
Abuja, Nigeria -- As a follow up to the Special Leadership Conference in March 2014 held in Kenya with about 25 Ambassadors for Peace from Nigeria in attendance, UPF-Nigeria Secretary General Dr. Raphael Ogar Oko and UPF-Nigeria Director of the Office of UN/AU/ECOWAS/Embassies Relations, Dr. George C Ikpot led the UPF team for a courtesy visit to the High Commissioner of the Republic of Kenya to Nigeria, H.E. Amb. Tom Amolo, on June 19, 2014 at the Kenyan High Commission in Abuja.
The visit was to update the High Commissioner on some of the resolutions of the conference and to thank the High Commissioner for the support given to the Nigerian delegation that visited Kenya in March. During the visit, the Kenyan High Commissioner was briefed about the accomplishments of the UPF founders, the activities of UPF globally and some of the initiatives by UPF-Nigeria to promote peace and national unity as a foundation for Africa's regional integration.
Speaking on "Strengthening Nigeria -- Kenya Relations for a Unified Africa and Peaceful world," UPF-Nigeria secretary general said: "Your Excellency, we are grateful to you and the good people and government of Kenya for the opportunity to host our conference in Nairobi, Kenya. Our nations have very unique opportunities to become model nations that other African nations will emulate. There are so many tasks ahead of our nations and we can turn around many things. We believe that we share similar characteristics and challenges in the areas of insecurity, ethnic rivalry, increasing youth unemployment and many other issues. The strategic position that Nigeria occupies in West Africa is similar to the strategic position that Kenya occupies in East Africa. If we are to re-unify the divided continent of Africa, the west and east of Africa must strengthen their sibling relations and promote a realm of couplehood. Nigeria and Kenya need to become good partners for Africa's development and peace. We will like to recommend that Your Excellency consider the need to support inter country-marriage between Nigerians and Kenyans. On behalf of the West and East of Africa, let Nigeria and Kenya take the lead in promoting inter-country marriage among their citizens."
It was also mentioned to the High Commissioner that during the conference in Kenya, participants emphasized "the need to promote cross-cultural marriages between West and East Africans, especially between Nigerians and Kenyans since the Ambassadors for Peace consider this as one of our special strategies for peace."
The meeting featured discussions on the core focus of the UPF and programs to promote world peace and African integration. Dr. Ikpot explained about the upcoming World Summit in South Korea and the Ambassadors for Peace network. He explained about the UPF-Nigeria proposal for the creation of a Ministry for Inter-religious Affairs in Nigeria and the need for a National Assembly Committee on Inter-religious Affairs and called on the High Commissioner to lend his voice to this proposal for peace in Nigeria. The visit was facilitated by the visit to Nigeria of the Kenya-based African coordinator of the World Tong-Il Moo-Do Federation for the National Kids Competition in Abuja.
Responding, Ambassador Amolo thanked the delegation for the kind gesture and said that it has been the policy of the Kenyan government to open their nation to the whole world. He expressed his gratitude to the UPF for the work being done around the world and was excited about the idea to promote inter-religious harmony through the creation of a Ministry for Inter-religious Affairs in Nigeria, the inter-country marriage exchange program and the sports for peace tournament being organized in Kenya in August 2014. He passionately supported the proposal to promote marriage between Kenyans and Nigerians. The High Commissioner is married to a South African and is from a family where most members are married to citizens of other nations. Thus, this idea is not new to him, as his brothers and sisters are all married internationally.
As part of the discussions with the High Commissioner, the UPF-Nigeria team proposed that a second conference be held in Nairobi Aug. 21 – 23, 2014 on the theme "Exploring Strategies of Strengthening Nigeria – Kenya Relations for Peace and Development in Africa." The conference will bring together Nigerians and Kenyans to deliberate on strategies to jointly respond to the challenges facing the two nations. The conference will provide opportunities to inspire citizens with a common vision for peace and development as well as connect them to information, each other and resources for peace and development.
In the days ahead, the UPF-Nigeria will be seeking further collaboration with UPF-Kenya on one hand and between the Nigerian Ambassador to Kenya and the Kenyan High Commissioner to Nigeria for the upcoming conference and inter-country marriage programs. It was proposed that during the conference in Kenya that will bring various groups from Nigeria and Kenya together, the High Commissioner and his Nigerian counterpart shall be presented with the UPF Ambassador for Peace certificates. Also, the opening session of the conference will feature the formal launch of the Nigerian Ambassadors for Peace in Diaspora (Kenya Chapter) Initiative.