GIVING OUR FUTURE A NEW NAME APPLI/AFPLI PRESIDENTIAL MESSAGE ON THE OCCASION OF SYMBOLIC LAUNCHING OF YOUTH PEACE ALLIANCE CLUBS IN IJEBU, REMO, AND YEWA EDUCATION BLOCKS OF OGUN STATE       All protocols observed. On January 26, 2006, a new club appeared in junior and senior secondary schools in Nigeria. It was called the Youth Peace Alliance Club (Y-PAC). It started at the Education District VI in Lagos State comprising Ikeja, Mushin, and Oshodi/Isolo Local Government Councils. On that day, the Y- PAC was launched in 120 secondary schools in Education District VI. Few days later, the Y-PAC was symbolically launched in 98 secondary schools at Education District II, comprising Ikorodu, Kosofe and Shomolu Local Government Councils in Lagos State. The Y-PAC has made its appearance in other states of the country like Cross River State, Abia State, Enugu, to name a few. On May 2nd and 3rd, the Y-PAC was symbolically launched in 78 secondary schools at the Abeokuta Education Block of Ogun State, comprising Abeokuta North, Abeokuta South, Ifo, Ewekoro, Obafemi and Odeda Education Zones.  The good thing is moving around. Today, Tuesday, December 4, 2007 it is the turn of Ijebu Education Block. On Thursday, December 6, 2007, it shall be turn of Remo Education Block. And on Tuesday, December 10, 2007 it shall be the turn of Yewa Education Block. My message to you today is both a felicitation and a call to duty. It is a message of felicitation because peace is good. Someone said long time ago that “Peace is the feast of life.” It is a call to duty because peace is a pursuit and a search. Hebrews 12:14 admonishes us to “pursue peace with all men.” Psalm 34:14 encourages us to “seek peace and pursue it.” Isaiah 54:13 says “All your children will be taught by the Lord and great shall be your children’s peace.” And Jeremiah 29:11 says “I know my thoughts toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” Though we are not gathered here today to teach religion, I must explain a little more what the Koran teaches about peace. Islam is the religion of peace. Its meaning is peace. It is the peaceful surrender to the will and commands of God. The Muslim salutation “Assalaam Alikum” means, “May God’s peace be upon you.” Islam strives to bring peace in the world. Islam will never act with aggression against non-Muslim who make peace with it or are even indifferent to it. Islam does not force people to accept it, because it is a faith that must come from the deep conviction of an individual. The Koran categorically affirms this by saying, “There is no compulsion in religion. The right direction is henceforth distinct from error” (Koran You will see from the above quotations that it is not the will of God that we should quarrel, fight or kill ourselves because of religion. On August 13, 1996, the Lord shared a divine vision with me couched in these words “Africa, the Future Land of Peace.”  Now that the Lord has shown us the path to Peacebuilding, the stage is now set to give Africa a new name. If you are privileged to wear our Peace T-Shirt and adorn our Peace Face-Cap today, you will see that we have called Africa, the Future Land of Peace. We have founded so many peace clubs, and we called them by the name of peace. We have developed several peace concepts, such as: the 20 Year Long Tomorrow for Peacebuilding; the proactive grassroots Peacebuilding for Ethnoreligious Harmony, the Youth Peace and Nation Building, the Community Peace and Nation Building, the Peace and Harmony Day Program, the Structured Education for Peace and the Socio-cultural Adjustment Programs. The Youth Peace Alliance Club for which we are gathered today, targeted at teenagers in junior and senior secondary schools, is the second  of the four grassroots peace clubs through which we are promoting our Youth Peace and Nation Building Program and the 20 Year Long Tomorrow for Peacebuilding. The first peace club is the African Children of Peace Club, targeted at children ages 5 to 12 years in kindergarten, nursery and primary schools. The third is the KAIROS Peace and Love Clubs, targeted at young adults in institutions of higher learning such as colleges of education, polytechnics, and universities. The fourth is the New Peace Legacy Club, targeted at young graduates serving their fatherland at the NYSC. The high point of this concept is that any Nigerian child can be a member of these four peace clubs throughout their 20 years of student life – from primary to secondary to tertiary and beyond to the NYSC. The success of our Youth Peace and Nation Building, as well as that of our 20 Year Long Tomorrow for Peacebuilding, depend greatly on our teachers. That is why we have organized this symbolic launching and teacher training program. After the assigned teachers have been trained on how to operate the Youth Peace Alliance Clubs, we expect them to go back and start the Y- PAC in their schools. At the beginning, the Y-PAC will operate at co-curricular level in the secondary schools. We will continue to train the assigned teachers until they will be certified to teach our peace curriculum at mainstream examination subject level. We are currently negotiating with the Ministry of Education of many states of the federation on the modalities to turn the peace curriculum into mainstream examination subject. The negotiation process will soon start in Ogun State. I want to use this opportunity to greet our indefatigable governor, His Excellency, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, for piloting the great ship of Ogun State to greater heights. I also thank the Honorable Commissioner for Education for allowing us the opportunity to introduce the Youth Peace Alliance Clubs in Ogun State secondary schools. I will like to use this opportunity to inform the Honorable Commissioner that since we already have the KAIROS and the New Peace Legacy Clubs in Ogun State, we would like to introduce our African Children of Peace Clubs in the elementary schools to complete the structure for our Youth Peace and Nation Building and 20 Year Long Tomorrow for Peacebuilding in the State. My profound gratitude also goes to the Permanent Secretary, Directors, Zonal Coordinators and all the officials of the Ogun State Ministry of Education for the hard work they have done over the years to promote qualitative education in Ogun State. I also thank teachers who have started the Y-PAC in their schools in Ogun State and other states across the nation I will be doing our organization a disservice if I did not use this forum to call upon the State Government to come to our support financially. The cost of founding, maintaining and sustaining our numerous grassroots Peacebuilding clubs across the country is rising and getting beyond what our family foundation can handle alone. We therefore call on the State Government to come to our rescue financially. This is the time for us work together to give a new name to our future. Let Africa become the new Land of Peace. Let us put violence to shame. There must be peace in Nigeria. There must be peace in Africa. There must be peace all over the world. We love Africa the Future Land of Peace. Thank you. Shalom. Peace. KAYERO! KAYEROJU! Rev. Titus K. Oyeyemi (CCH - December 1, 2007) Founding President and CEO African Foundation for Peace and Love Initiatives