Tuface presents N3 million to Peace Award winners

  
Towards building a peaceful nation, the Tuface Peace Awards recently rewarded three Nigerians at the World Peace Day celebration at the Nicon Luxury Hotel
Abuja.

 They received N1 million each to use in furthering the various
peace causes they have been involved in.
The Awards kicked off the Million Voices for Peace campaign being run
by the Tuface Idibia Reachout Foundation. The winners were selected from
a pool of young people aged between 18 to 35 whose initiatives helped
in promoting peace in their areas for at least 18 months.
The winners were: Kyenpiya Jessica Makan-Nyabam of the CLAPAI (Child
Love And Protection Advocacy Initiative) Orphanage, Jos. CLAPAI was set
up in 2006 by Kyenpiya and her husband, Emmanuel, an ex-professional
footballer, to cater for children orphaned, affected or infected by
HIV/AIDS. They also care for children outside the orphanage and
Emmanuel uses sports to engage the older youth in the community to
foster peace.
Second was the Christian Muslim Peace Movement which is based in Bauchi
and Jos. They are a group of young volunteers led by Aminu Garba Sidi
who do conflict mediation, peace sensitization and other activities in
schools and communities. They also work in NYSC camps and are contact
persons and mobilizers for other peace projects in Nigeria.
The third winner was Zainab Sandah who also received an honourable
mention. She is involved in mobilizing and assisting the conflict prone
Rigassa community in Kaduna in their efforts to access public sector
education. She assisted in setting up a VSAT with computers for a
community skills centre.
Tuface charged the winners to continue in their efforts to support the
poor and promote peace in Nigeria. He explained that the MVP was meant
to re-orientate the “mindset of Nigerians to realise the senselessness
in many of the conflicts and killings going on and let them know that
peace is the only condition for progress.
“Most times when they tell you the reason for some of the conflicts,
you will be very surprised and disappointed.
"As award winners, you are now peace ambassadors. People will be more
interested in what you do. You have to continue to maintain the high
standards you have set,” he said.
Present at the event were the president of the Kudirat Initiative for
Democracy (KIND), Hafsat Abiola-Costello, who gave a speech urging the
rich to support d poor more; the Director of the National Orientation
Agency (NOA) who represented by David Manya Dogo and
Prof Braide, DG IPRC and the representative of the First Lady's Peace
Mission Mrs Betty Bassey.
The Tuface Peace Awards was supported by APURIMAC, Action AID, UNDP and
KIND.