The Governor of Edo State, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has said that peaceful coexistence of the world’s billions of humans is possible with communication, despite cultural and other differences.
Obaseki said this in commemoration of the World Hello Day, a secular holiday observed annually on November 21, to highlight that conflicts should be resolved through communication rather than the use of force.
“By simply saying hello, you could melt frozen hearts and souls,” the governor said.
He urged world leaders to talk and engage each other more, stressing, “We need to do more with communication especially in resolving conflict and in arresting issues and differences before they degenerate into crises.”
He maintained that communication has proven to be a veritable tool in diplomacy and a potent tool for winning hearts since the creation of the world.
The governor noted that most times, people undermine and even ignore the power of the spoken and written word as well as non-verbal cues in resolving their differences.
“In governance, we appreciate the power of communication in conveying public policies to the populace. In our various sensitisation and orientation programmes, communication is clearly the basic tool for reaching out to our target audience.
“The state government’s aggressive campaign to stop our youths from embarking on life-threatening journeys through the desert and in rickety boats on the ocean, to Europe, is driven by communication and we are making impact,” he added.
According to the United Nations, “on the World Hello Day, participants verbally greet ten people or more on that day as an expression of the importance of personal communication in preserving peace. The annual global event began in 1973.”
