Why Rotary is Organising World Understanding Day
Larry Agose, former Corporate Affairs Director of Nigerian Breweries Plc., is the President of the Rotary Club of Lagos. In this chat with Samuel Ajayi, Agose speaks on the coming World Understanding Day, why Rotary is heavily involved in humanitarian act
Over six months have passed since you became President of the Rotary Club of Lagos. How has the experience been?
The experience has been very exciting as there has never been a dull moment. Being the president of a Rotary Club is very demanding for the entire 52 weeks that you are in the saddle, as all club activities revolve around the President. Meetings are held every week with Board meeting at the end of each month. I hold the view that you become an accomplished Rotarian after managing a club with membership cutting across various classifications, as we say in Rotary parlance. There is also a special feeling of satisfaction in managing the premier Rotary Club in Nigeria, going into seven months so far.
Rotary is one organisation that hinges its operations on service to humanity. How worried is Rotary over conflicts in different parts of the world?
Rotary has always been concerned about conflicts in different parts of the world and has done a lot to help contain, reduce or manage local, national or international violence through the following: the establishment of Peace Centres in collaboration with seven world class universities and the designation of the entire month of February to Peace and Conflict Prevention/Resolution. During this month, the 34000 clubs that make up Rotary International are engaged in activities to promote peace and violence free world. Towards this end, in addition to three guest speakers who would address my Club on the matter, we are organising World Understanding Day Symposium with two keynote speakers. They are Ambassadors Patrick Dele Cole, former Nigerian Ambassador to Brazil, and Ambassador Kunle Adeyemi, former Nigerian Ambassador to the United Nations, Geneva, with the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hon. Odein Ajumogobia, SAN as the Chairman. Finally, Rotary promotes world peace and harmony through humanitarian services rendered by the clubs. This is because the elimination of extreme want in societies greatly will reduce conflict and enhance peace and friendship. I must mention that the current Rotary flagship project is polio to which it has committed about $1billion dollars in the campaign in partnership with governments, corporate organisations and NGOs. Nigeria has been a major beneficiary of this campaign to end polio now.
What do you think is responsible for rising global conflicts?
As I said earlier, the chief cause of rising global conflict is extreme poverty and the lack of sufficient mechanism to distribute available resources equitably. Various governments and multilateral institutions seem not to be doing enough, as greed inevitably gets in the way. Rotary is eminently placed to lead the way here as you cannot go wrong with its Four Way Test mantra. Donations to Rotary are always a good decision as the ratio of such being used for the common versus the administration of such activities is 95/5 per cent ratio. Furthermore, Rotary’s six areas of avenues of service touch every aspect of community life and this is replicated in 34,000 clubs in 165 countries in the Rotary world.
What informed the idea of World Understanding Day?
Rotary International was founded by a gentleman called Paul Harris on February 23, 1905 and the date was adopted as the World Understanding Day in 2002 in response to the growing tension and conflicts in the world. It has grown to designating a full month to the quest for Peace and Conflict Prevention/Resolution and the setting up of Peace Centres in partnership with seven universities. On annual basis, Peace Fellows are sponsored to these institutions to learn conflict resolutions and return to their societies in different parts of the world to do as they have been thought, the Rotary way.
What is it aimed to achieve?
The cumulative impact of 34,000 Rotary Clubs in 165 countries espousing the need for communities to live in harmony and prescribing the road map to achieve it is bound to be beneficial. Our high profile approach to it at the Rotary Club of Lagos, in addition to other activities and projects we have undertaken underscores its importance.
You have a keynote speaker in Dr. Patrick Dele Cole. What informed the choice?
Ambassador Patrick Dele Cole is a man of immense experience spanning academia, the media, business, government and diplomacy. And he has contacts and friends cutting across several divides. As an informed man of the world, he is at home in matters of this nature. He comes highly recommended. And even though you did not ask me, the second key note speaker, Ambassador Kunle Adeyemi, is highly sought after speaker on matters of diplomacy and conflict resolution. We are lucky to have them address this knotty issue.
The culture of violence is disturb-
ingly percolating down to even young school children. How do you think Rotary can steer their young minds away from violence?
In my Club, we have done a few things to help put our young ones in the straight and narrow part. Just last month, Rotary marked the Vocational Service Month and as part of the activities planned for the month, we visited a public school in Central Lagos during which we interacted in batches with about 500 of the students. We also gave them a talk on Career Guidance and Counseling in addition to the presentation of 270 books on various subjects. Follow up visits are planned. Earlier, at another public primary school, we launched the Hand Writing Intervention Projects for the pupils and teachers. Follow up sessions are also planned. In preparing the young ones for future leadership positions, Rotary forms Rotaract Clubs in our tertiary institutions and Interact Clubs in our secondary schools. The Rotary Club of Lagos has one such Rotaract Club, the Rotaract Club of Lagos, based in the University of Lagos and the first such club in Africa. We have Interact clubs at Igbobi College, Yaba and Dowen College, Lekki. One other Interact Club will come on board before February ending, 2016. In addition, every year RI District 9110 to which we belong organises a ten-day Rotary Youth Leadership programme at the Sea School, Apapa
How do you intend to get those in authority involved in this?
There is has always been collaboration between Rotary and governments worldwide, otherwise the current effort to eradicate polio will be impossible. For this reason, the politics of collaboration has to be a key competence in the running of any Rotary club. It covers all areas Rotary International has mandated its clubs to execute projects: Basic Education and Literacy (Hand Writing Intervention Project and Donation of a block of six class rooms to a public school), Economic and Community Development (Micro-finance Scheme at Sandgrouse Market), Disease Prevention and Treatment (Donation of Inverter Batteries to LUTH and Free Screening for Market men and women at the Sandgrouse Market) Peace and Conflict Prevention/ Resolution (World Understanding Day event coming up on February 23), Water & Sanitation (Water project coming up in March) and Maternal and Child Health (Donation of Incubator to Gbagada General Hospital).
Who and who are expected at this year’s event?
Invited guests are expected e from the government, academia, the armed forces, the police, rotarians, rotaractors, interactors, the business community, the media and the general public. About 300 people are expected at the event. You will note that the Rotaractors and Interactors are also invited. This is geared towards giving them early exposure on the subject matter.
Can we really achieve world peace?
The definition of ‘world peace’ would probably take an entire United Nations General Assembly session to achieve and at the end, you are likely to have walk outs and abstentions. I would say the Rotary approach to attaining world peace points the way forward. If the Four Way Test is objectively applied-Is it the Truth? Is it Fair to All Concerned? Will it Build Goodwill and Better Friendship? Is it Beneficial to All Concerned-relative world peace could be in the horizon.
The definition of ‘world peace’ would probably take an entire United Nations General Assembly session to achieve and at the end, you are likely to have walk outs and abstentions. I would say the Rotary approach to attaining world peace points the way forward. If the Four Way Test is objectively applied-Is it the Truth? Is it Fair to All Concerned? Will it Build Goodwill and Better Friendship? Is it Beneficial to All Concerned-relative world peace could be in the horizon