By FFWPU Nigeria
In 2015, the Nigeria mission launched the Heavenly Tribal Messiah program in Nigeria by training volunteer members in Abuja courtesy of Dr. Kathy Rigney and Rev George Ogurie leadership. Their efforts led to the choice of Yala LGA in Cross River State as the area to begin the implementation of the HTM Marriage and Family Peace blessing programs.
Over 3000 couples were blessed in the HTM campaign which led to the blessing of several couples in Nigeria after the pioneering effort as traditional rulers, Christian leaders, and community youth volunteers joined in carrying the campaign to their villages as well as the invitation of the Paramount Ruler of Yala and the Honorable Member of the State Assembly to the ILC in Korea in 2016.
As a follow-up of this pioneering mission, gradual efforts have been made to ensure that the Yala LGA becomes a model peaceful and heavenly community through several initiatives and activities. One such effort is the education of young adults to form the Peace Age Grade in Yala as well as the naming of the Sun Moon Road in Okpoma, and the establishment of the Peace Angels soccer club for girls, among others.
Eight years after the historic launch of the HTM blessing in Yala, we have witnessed the naming ceremony of the Peace Age Grade Association in Yala with the potential to spread to other communities and areas in Nigeria and beyond. The Peace Age Grade is an association of men and women born between 1970 and 1975. The year 1970 was the year of the end of the civil war in Nigeria and 1975 was the year of the arrival of the pioneer missionaries for peace from the Peace Federation founders.
To commemorate the 2023 United Nations International Day of Peace, delegates of young adults born between 1970 – 1975 in Yala LGA of Cross River State gathered in a special delegates assembly to dialogue on a general name that their age group will bear as an association of men and women.
After exhaustive deliberations by the delegates on behalf of their various communities, three names were proposed including the Peace Age Grade.
After further consultations and invitation to non members to deliver goodwill messages to the assembly, it was unanimously agreed and resolved that henceforth, the association of young adults born between 1970 and 1975 in Yala be called the Peace Age Grade. It is a common tradition in Yala that young adults born around a time period are grouped into an age grade association where they are expected to be named, to meet regularly, and to contribute to the building of their age grade and the community.
It was also resolved that the tradition of the age grade system be introduced to other communities in Nigeria and around the world so that those born around the same period can connect with each other and contribute to making the world a better place.
By this naming ceremony of the Peace Age Grade Association, the members have made a determination to become peaceful men and women, to establish peaceful families and communities as well as utilize their resources for peace and live in peace every day. This is a bold step toward the emergence of a peaceful tribe and community.
Let us welcome the formation of the Peace Age Grade into the Age Grade Association in Yala and help to spread the good news of the group to others too.
The assembly for the age grade was held at the World Peace Center, Okpoma Yala on September 21, 2023, at a time when the UN and the people of the world were commemorating the International Day of Peace.
Pioneer members of the Peace Age Grade in Yala are presently over a thousand, two hundred registered male and female young adults and it is strongly believed that those who were born together at a particular time and place have something unique to do together for their community and the world.
Thanks to the untiring efforts of the Peace Federation founders, the desire for a world of peace is becoming a reality as more associations for peace and communities of peace are being created in our generation.