OPINION II Today is Int'l Human Solidarity Day!

CLARION CALL FOR UNDILUTED UNITY AMONG NIGERIANS AS THE 2016 INT’L HUMAN SOLIDARITY DAY IS MARKED ON TUESDAY DECEMBER 20

        

On Tuesday, December 20, the world over is celebrating the 2016 International Human Solidarity Day. The annual International Human Solidarity Day was established on 22^nd December 2005, by the United Nations (UN). Having acknowledged the fact that solidarity is one of the basic and universal values that ought to underlie relations between peoples in the Twenty-First Century, on the aforementioned date, the UN General Assembly decided to proclaim December 20 each year as International Human Solidarity Day.

        

Prior to the adoption of the Day by the UN, by resolution on 20^th December 2002, the General Assembly established the World Solidarity Fund which was duly set up in February 2003 as a trust fund of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Its motive is to eradicate poverty as well as promote social and human development in developing countries, particularly amongst the poorest segments of their populations.

        

Solidarity, in a precise term, can be defined as a complete unity and support among people of a certain group. It can also be addressed as an absolute togetherness showcased by members/occupants of a particular group or locality, as the case might be.

       

Solidarity is identified in the Millennium Declaration as one of the fundamental values of international relations in the twenty-first (21^st) century, wherein those who either suffer or benefit least deserve help or support from those who benefit most. Consequently, in the context of globalization and the challenge of growing inequality, the uplift of international solidarity remains unavoidable.

       

Surely, the concept of solidarity has defined the work of the UN since the birth of the organization. The establishment of the UN drew the peoples and nations of the world together to promote peace, human rights, social and economic developments. The body was founded on a basic premise of unity and harmony among its Member States. It is indeed in the spirit of solidarity that the union relies on cooperation in resolving international plights or misunderstanding of socio-economic, cultural and/or humanitarian origin in order to maintain universal peace and security.

       

Frankly, solidarity is a very vital tool required to solve problems in our interconnected world. We can only reach our shared goals if people are able to participate in the formulation and implementation of plans, policies, programmes, and what have you, to shape our common future, since it is already noted that commitments without empowerment are merely words without meaning.

         

Having noticed that absolute unity is synonymous with solidarity, there is no need reiterating the fact that thorough brotherhood or unity can only be actualized through participation in solidarity-related activities or causes. Thus, adoption of human solidarity by any entity is no doubt a pathway towards actualizing absolute unity, which is no doubt an epitome of exemplary peace and harmony.

        

Since it is apparent that solidarity which guarantees absolute unity is as well a giant step towards alleviating the poverty level of any society, hence there is an urgent need for a right thinking citizen of any poverty-stricken nation such as Nigeria alongside other developing countries across the globe to support the ongoing human solidarity crusade as much as they can. In addition, it is imperative for a country like Nigeria that is currently ravaged by insurgency and other forms of treason to do everything humanly possible to ensure that solidarity among the citizenry becomes the order of the day without much ado.

         

Nigeria can promote thorough brotherhood among her populace by closing the existing gaps including ethnicity, corruption, nepotism, favouritism, religious cum social discrimination, chauvinism, and personal aggrandizement that are invariably found on the country’s socio-political and economic platform. To this end, as the present administration ably led by President Mohammadu Buhari is willing and determined to sweep out corruption, which remains the fundamental bane to unity and societal development, we are cordially expected to rally round the administration with the spirit of solidarity rather than the reverse, with a view to making Nigeria become a country to reckon with in the nearest future.

       

We can contribute our respective quotas by regularly and relentlessly preaching unity in every field of human endeavour we find ourselves, most especially in the schools, markets, worship centres, motor parks, and our immediate communities. More so, parents and guardians ought to sensitize their wards, right from their childhood, on the fact that no one can thrive successfully if he/she chose to stand alone since it is obvious that ‘a tree can never make a forest’.   

       

So, as Nigeria joins the global community to commemorate the annual International Human Solidarity Day, I call on everyone who thinks good of the country to borrow a leaf from the country’s fallen nationalists and heroes to include Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Alhaji Ahmadu Bello, and Chief Tafawa Belewa, just to mention but a few, who believed in the inevitable role of human solidarity in nation building. This is arguably the only way we can actualize undiluted unity among ourselves, which remains the gateway to the long awaited change. Think about it!

@mediambassador
http://facebook.com/fred4nwaozor