By Stanley Ihedigbo
The United Nations International Peace Advocate Ambassador, Professor Nwaocha Ogechukwu has been shortlisted for the 2022 Mahatma Gandhi Centre of Canada (MGCC) award.
The award is for his unique contribution to the abolition of the caste system in Southeastern Nigeria.
The don is an ambassador of Peace from Bureau for Peace and Conflict Resolution (Government of Imo State) and a nominee of 2022 Nobel peace prize, the first Nigerian to be nominated for such award.
A statement by the President of Gandhi Centre, Dr. K. Dakshinamurti, who is an Emeritus Professor, Faculty of Medicine, University of Manitoba, said like many other organizations, the centre has been dormant for the past two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic but will be celebrating the Mahatma Gandhi Day this year in October.
“The MGCC has decided that this year’s Community Development Award will be conferred on Professor Ogechukwu for his unique contribution to humanity and the award will be presented at the Mahatma Gandhi Day Dinner, at the Convention Centre, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada,” he said.
Dakshinamurti added that the Centre was considering inviting the High Commissioner of Nigeria to Canada, Adeyinka Asekun to participate in the event and accept the award on behalf of Professor Ogechukwu.
The peace Ambassador has contributed so much towards the abolition of caste system in South Eastern Nigeria, which covers the entire Igbo race and Igbo society to promote peaceful coexistence.
Also, his contributions are geared towards peaceful cohabitation of Igbo families, advocates human rights development, promote human development via social equity and human equality, and the total unity of Igbo communities for proper integration for nation’s peace building.
He has published many peer-reviewed academic works on international journals to that effect, and as a result became the first scholar to develop three phase model, as a theory, for abolition of caste system in Africa, which thousands of traditional rulers and rural communities used for total abolition of the socio-cultural prejudice that has trado-religious root in Igbo culture.
