Members of Peace Club, Akwa Ibom State Polytechnic, Ikot Osurua, posing with resource persons and guests after their inauguration.
Abasifreke Effiong
The Foundation for Partnership Initiatives in Niger Delta (PIND) has inaugurated a Peace Club at the Akwa Ibom State Polytechnic, (AKWAPOLY), Ikot Osurua, Ikot Ekpene local government area.
AKWAPOLY is one of the five tertiary institutions PIND is setting up peace clubs, aimed at empowering students with skills in conflict resolution. Federal University, Utuoke, Bayelsa State, University of Calabar, Calabar, Cross River State, Imo State University, Owerri, Imo State, Federal College of Education (Technical) Asaba, Delta State, are the other institutions targeted for the project.
PIND’s peace club in the Akwa Ibom State Polytechnic was inaugurated last weekend to round off a-2 day capacity building programme held on 13th and 14th October for members of the club in the institution.
The AKWAPOLY peace club has Dominic Okon Umoh as President, Esther Michael Augustine, Secretary, Godfrey Inyene George, PRO and Emediong Aniefiok Umanah, Treasurer.
The capacity building programme featured training on volunteerism, cooperation and leadership, peace-building and conflict management styles, and managing a peace club sustainably, with Abiodun Akanbi, Afeno Super,Imaobong Nseowo and Mr Peace Edem as faculty.
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The peace club as set up by PIND is a voluntary organisation devoted to empowering its members, youth, with skills and knowledge in conflict resolution and peace-building.
The objectives of the club according to the organisation is to
“serve as a platform for building a culture of peace and promoting peaceful co-existence in the society, empower students with skills and knowledge of peace, conflict management and peace building so that they can manage conflict amicably and successfully.
It is also seeks to serve as a “platform to effect positive attitudinal changes in students and have them initiate non-violent projects for social change and sustainable peace, offer students opportunities to gain interpersonal and leadership skills and facilitate student’s academic excellence in order to achieve their academic goals, and incorporate members into PIND’s integrated peace and Development units (IPDU) Early Warning and Early Response (EWER) system.”
The President, AKWAPOLY Peace Club, Dominic Okon Umoh, commended PIND for setting up the club and the intensive training which he said has better equipped with skills to serve the purpose of the club, pledging that the club will help to reduce, mitigate and prevent conflict and its escalation on campus.
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