A Pan-Igbo socio-cultural organization, Igbodum is to partner National Alliance for Peace in order to bring to the barest minimum the persistent cycles of communal violence, ethno-religious conflict, insurgency and urban ethnic tensions across the country.

Speaking when the National President of National Alliance for Peace, Nze Dr. Okolie Amaechi Sadiq paid a courtesy visit to Igbodum at its monthly general meeting in Lagos, the President of Igbodum, Prince Chuks Emechebe said that the main reason why development is lacking in Nigeria is because of absence of peace.

According to him, without peace there can never be development.

He said that Igbodum is the organization that was born to change the narrative of the Igbo people, adding that the objective of National Alliance for peace aligns with that of the organization.

Speaking further, he said that the socio-cultural organization is ready to promote and project Igbo values to their host communities as a way of ensuring harmonious communal existence.

“We the members of Igbodum have gone through the aims and objectives of National Alliance for peace and we discovered that it aligned with our own aims and objectives. Peace is the foundation of everything in the world. Without peace, there cannot be development. So, we are going to partner with them to ensure that there is peace in the country. Igbos make up at least 15 per cent of the population of all the states in the country. In fact, any state that you go to, after the indigenes, Igbos are the next in population. So, a peaceful Nigeria would be of immense benefit to Ndigbo,” Prince Emechebe said.

In his reaction, the National President of National Alliance for Peace, Nze Dr. Okolie Amaechi Sadiq, expressed appreciation to the members of Igbodum for the partnership.

According to him, the National Alliance for Peace is conceived as a non-partisan, nationwide peace movement that is designed to complement government efforts through structured dialogue, moral persuasion, and community-anchored conflict resolution.

He said that the association’s central objective is to rebuild trust among citizens, communities and the state by transforming grievance into dialogue and fear cooperative security.

The National Alliance for Peace boss said that the work of the organization is guided by four principles: suasion (appeal to conscience and reason), persuasion (dialogue over coercion), patriotism (responsible love of country), and inclusive nationalism (shared destiny beyond ethnicity or faith).

The first Town hall meeting of National Alliance for Peace would hold in Lagos in April.