ECOWAS Youths Ambassador, Austin Peacemaker Gets UN Award

ECOWAS, Youths Ambassador, Austin Peacemaker on Friday in Abuja received the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Ambassador of Peace award.

Austin Peacemaker, a Conflict and Security expert, received the award for his efforts in promoting peace, human capital development especially among the youths in Nigeria and around West African countries.

The award took place at the just concluded PAN African Leadership Symposium and Honors (PALESH- Abuja 2022) with the theme: Role of Inclusive Governance towards Consolidating Peaceful Co-Existence in Africa.

According to the organisers, the prestigious award is reserved for individuals who have distinguished themselves in promoting peace within and around their region and winners are carefully selected from various fields.

During the ceremony, which was attended by guests from different countries in Africa, the ECOWAS Youths Ambassador said he is dedicating his award to the Nigerian Armed Forces, for giving so much to protect Nigerians against terrorism and other criminalities.

According to Amb. Peacemaker, the gallant men and women of the Nigerian Armed Forces, have been resolute in their war against terrorism, including aiding in maintaining internal security which is primarily not their role.

He admonished Nigerian youths to embrace peace no matter what, that violence will never achieve the new Nigeria we all dream of.

The young Ambassador who is a recipient of many awards, works as a civil-military relations consultant for the Nigerian Army Department of Civil-military Affairs, where he has touched many lives, made positive contributions to Nigerian national security by successfully creating platforms for military-civil engagement with social media influencers and key state actors across various states in Nigeria, with several tours to the Northeast to interact with frontline soldiers and also visit IDPs with humanitarian assistance.

The initiative has successfully helped address human rights abuses and brutality, curb fake news, hate speech and malicious reportage.