03/06/2026
THE COST OF SILENCE:
BEING A SPEECH DELIVERED BY OLORUNDARE, A.S. MSPSP, FOUNDER & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PCPDI AT THE ONE-DAY CRISIS MANAGEMENT PRACTICAL WORKSHOP
held at Idachaba Lecture Theatre 2,
Prince Abubakar Audu University, Anyigba | 2nd june 2026
Protocol:
Good morning, great students of PAAU, our respected lecturers from the Department of Political Science, youth leaders, community stakeholders, traditional leaders, and fellow peace advocates.
Look around this hall. We are here today because we all know what violence costs. We have seen it up close. When tensions rise between two roommates over a phone charger and it ends in a fight that gets both of them suspended, that is how conflict starts. When rumors spread on WhatsApp groups in a hostel and neighbors stop trusting each other, that is how a crisis begins. When dialogue is missing, the price is always paid in broken relationships, lost semesters, police cases, and futures delayed.
This is not just happening in faraway countries. In our country, we see how disputes over land between farmers and herders escalate because no one sat down to talk early enough. We see how youth restlessness grows when young graduates feel their voices don’t matter after years of schooling. We see how political differences tear families apart during election seasons. Right here in Kogi, in Anyigba, the same pattern can start small. A quarrel in the market over change. A misunderstanding between communities over water. A clash between students and security over rules. If we don’t manage it early, it grows. That is why this workshop matters. Because peace is not waiting for soldiers to come. Peace is what we do before the damage is done. It is prevention, not reaction.
At the Pioneers, this work is personal for me. My passion for peace comes from years of sitting with families who lost children to violence that started as a small argument. I have met future leaders who died before they could grow, bright students whose lives ended over simple misunderstandings that a conversation could have solved. I have sat with husbands who lost their wives to violent death because someone acted in anger before talking. I have seen mothers bury children because pride came before dialogue. Peace is not just the absence of fighting. It is when a mother can send her child to school without fear of kidnapping or cult clashes. It is when a student can express a different political opinion in class and still be respected. It is justice, dignity, and daily trust between neighbors.
Our vision is simple: communities where people live together with equity, dignity, and hope. Our mission is to pioneer community-driven actions that stop conflict before it starts, empower people with practical skills, and secure a safer future for the next generation. We don’t wait for problems to explode. We work where tensions start - in hostels, in markets, in village squares.
Let me show you what that looks like on the ground, because peace must be practical.
In December 2025, we were on the streets of Madalla, Niger State, just before Christmas. Over 100 homeless women and children had no food, no shelter, and no one was asking about them. We didn’t just talk about poverty fueling desperation. We cooked, we served, we sat on the ground with them, and we listened to their stories. One grandmother told us her son was killed in a communal clash over land. We reminded them that their lives matter. Because hunger, neglect, and feeling invisible are seeds of instability. Meeting basic needs is the first step to peace.
In January 2026, we visited the Federal Health Centre in Zuba, FCT Abuja. We met patients who couldn’t afford basic drugs and mothers who walked 10km for antenatal care. We provided medical support and empowered families with small starter items like soap, food packs, and transport money so they could recover with dignity. Sickness and helplessness can break families and push young people into crime. We were there to restore hope and show that the community cares.
In February 2026, we were back in Madalla at Raybirth Hospital. New mothers and children in the postnatal ward needed more than medicine. They needed encouragement. We visited, provided relief materials, diapers, and empowered women with basic skills training and support groups. When women and children are protected and supported, communities become stronger and more stable.
And in March 2026, we took this message directly to students like you during our Campus Peace Tour at the Federal College of Education, Zuba. We didn’t lecture from theory. We sat in circles with students, shared real cases of campus disputes over cultism, exam malpractice, and roommate issues, and practiced how to de-escalate them using dialogue and active listening. Weeks later, students told us how small conflicts in hostels were resolved because they tried the tools we shared. That is the power of training.
That is community peacebuilding. That is conflict resolution and management in action. That is peace advocacy through partnerships like this one with PAAU’s Department of Political Science. That is empowering youth, women, and children who carry the heaviest burden in conflict but also hold the greatest power for change. That is promoting human rights and social justice, because no community can be peaceful when people feel unheard, oppressed, or treated unfairly.
I won’t pretend this is easy work. Funding is limited. Changing mindsets takes time and patience. Sometimes violence looks like the faster option. But I have seen the alternative work. I have seen a student choose to talk instead of fight and save his friend from expulsion. I have seen a community leader mediate between two villages and prevent a clash during farming season. I have seen the power of ordinary people choosing peace over pride.
So today I am not just asking you to listen. I am asking you to sign a pact. Become a Global Peace Ambassador. Carry this message beyond this hall to your departments, your hostels, your communities. Join us as volunteers of The Pioneers Community Peacebuilding and Development Initiative. Lend your voice, your time, your energy to spread peace in Kogi, in Nigeria, and beyond.
The world will not change until we do. And it starts with the choice you make after today.
Sign up. Stand up. Speak up for peace.
Thank you. May this Peace Pact be the beginning of many more.
Olorundare Destiny
The Pioneers Community Peacebuilding & Devt. Initiative
