The Cardinal Onaiyekan Foundation for Peace (COFP) is committed to peace and cohesion through dialogue, its founder, John Cardinal Onaiyekan declared on Tuesday in Abuja.
He said at the 2021 COFP Fellowship Programme on Inter-religious Dialogue, Conflict Transformation and Mediation that it was the only way to engender a prosperous nation.
He said that the programme provided stakeholders an opportunity to retract the country from the path of killings, terrorism, religious fanaticism and chaos to the path of conciliation, resilience, co-existence, peace and cohesion.
“It is a known fact that the state of our continent is a major cause for concern. The African continent is increasingly challenged by many serious problems.
“As we see heavy clouds of impending tempest looming over our beloved nation. We cannot just sit back complaining or merely waiting for the worst to happen.
“At COFP Foundation we are thinking aloud; speaking clearly; discussing and dialoguing to seek a way out of our impasse.
“We must learn to go beyond our differences and try to discover and celebrate our many common grounds of shared values and convictions,’’ he said.
“We have been stressing and capitalising on our differences of ethnicity, religion, culture, boundaries and political affiliations.
“The programme and other services of the Foundation offer us the space to stress even more, the many things that we have in common.
“This will make us discover the pleasant truth that what we have in common are far more important than our diversities.
“If all walk in this direction of human fraternity, then our religion will no longer be seen as a liability, rather, the great spiritual asset that God meant it to be for peace and human cohesion,’’ he added.
Onaiyekan noted also that the fellowship was celebrating the fourth set of COFP Fellows who joined the programme, adding that the event was call to service for peace.
He said that the programme was designed to help members to work in partnership, not only with religious communities but with a wider range of sectors for peace.
He explained that the programme trained, equipped and engaged local actors and faith leaders to dialogue, reconcile and meditate on efforts at achieving peace.
“I am sure that during this one-year programme, you will improve your capacities and explore better ways of networking for peace,’’ he told participants.
The cardinal expressed appreciation to the GHR Foundation, Minnesota USA, the German Federal Foreign Office, Hilton Foundation and MM for partnering with COFP and for funding the programme.
Speaking earlier, Sr. Agatha Chikelue, Executive Director of the foundation said that 62 members joined the programme at the 2021/2022 COFP.
Chikelue said that 10 non-Nigerians were among the 62 participants in the programme which had taken an international dimension.
She said that the COFP Fellowship was a one-year programme that had brought together more than 70 national and international actors, leaders and civil society groups from across the African continent.
She said that the programme also engaged in other services for general peace building which included rehabilitation of young drug addicts.
“We have also assisted Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps, especially women and children inmates and have engaged in inter-faith sports to bring Christians and Muslim youths together in a joyful environment,’’ she added.
An Ethiopian participant, Mr Yilma Hinpa, said he was motivated to join the programme because of the commitment the Foundation to ensure peace on the African continent.
Hinpa who spoke on behalf of the new members appreciated the Foundation for the opportunity given to be among peace makers.
He said that the members would join the faith to fight for peace and unity both at the national and international levels. (NAN)
