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Since becoming actively
involved with IPPNW in 2005, one question that I have had to answer
over and over again is, “What has someone from Africa got to do
with preventing nuclear war?” to which I have constantly answered
as follows:
1. Should a nuclear war happen it would not
only be a regional event
confined to the place of occurrence, but will affect the whole human
family in the form of climatic changes and consequent shortening of
the growing season, a fact that is well supported by scientific data.
Being from a continent with a lot of people still dependent on
subsistence farming such an occurrence will be catastrophic
2. The money spent on production, stockpiling
and testing of nuclear
weapons is presently in trillions of dollars and could be put to
better use by providing healthcare, water and other amenities to
countries of the global south and meeting the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGS)
Being from Jos, Nigeria,
a city that has suffered three devastating crises in less than a
decade, I now understand the value of peace, cooperation and common
development and am convinced that human beings from every walk of
life, from every region and creed must join hands to put an end to
conflict of any kind including especially nuclear conflict and
nuclear weapons, which have the capacity to annihilate large
populations in minutes to a few hours while adversely affecting the
lives of those left behind far into the future. This sums up why I am
taking part in the BAN tour.
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