From Left; Dehab Ghebreab, Paul Adefarasin and Oby Ezikwesili
The acting Consul General of the United States Consulate in Nigeria, Mrs. Dehab Ghebreab has said that her country will continue to partner Nigeria to achieve peaceful co-existence and sustainable development.
Ghebreab made this declaration last Thursday at a press conference held before the premiere of Captive, at the House on the Rock Cathedral in Lagos.
According to the US Consul, peace is not negotiable in any nation that aspires to achieve sustainable democracy and development. Ghebreab said her country is in partnership with The Rock Cathedral to send a strong message that will change people’s lives.
“We are partnering on a theme to look at a purpose driven life. The movie, Captive shows how the struggle between hope and despair play out,” Ghebreab said.
The American diplomat reminded all that societies learn from each other and in order to extend the American democracy beyond America, “we decided to share that experience with Nigerians through Selma.”
Speaking earlier, host of the event and senior pastor of House on The Rock, Paul Adefarasin called on Nigerians to live a purpose driven lifestyle. He said Nigeria, in her 55 years as an independent nation, has faced a series of challenges such as oppressive regimes, bad governance and terrorism.
Adefarasin recalled that the public premiere of the movie, Selma in the twilight of Nigeria’s general elections achieved a lot as the movie spoke to the subject of peace at a time when it appeared that Nigeria was going to disintegrate.
The clergy also said House on The Rock is working assiduously towards the attainment of peace because it is only a peaceful atmosphere that brings about development in a country. He charged Nigerians to see themselves as one family.
“Do we continue to view one another as different people? Do we accept that we are a united nation or do we insist that we are an amalgam of different nationalities? Do we accept that we are Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, Fulani, Kanuri, Bini, Kalabari, Ibibio, Tiv, Birom, Idoma, Efik or the many more tribal distinctions that exist in our country or do we accept that we are simply and proudly Nigerians,” he asked.
He further stated that “all the great nations of our world today only became great because they had a purpose to do so as one people of one nation around an uncompromised system of shared values; value systems that invariably included equal opportunity, equity, justice, freedom, peace, progress and tahe majority principle.”
Also at the event was the former Minister of Education, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, who expressed delight in the collaboration between the United States Consulate and House on The Rock.
According to Ezekwesili “the church plays an important role in nation building. We thank the US consular for this kind of partnership. Strategic partnerships matter. Partnering on such a day as our annual independence makes it much more relevant and is important for nation building.”
Captive was later screened to a cross section of Nigerians from the political, business and social class.
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