Yemisi Izuora
As stakeholders in Nigeria joins to mark the 2018, celebration of the United Nations International Day Of Happiness, The Way To Happiness Foundation, Nigeria, TWTH has enjoined public spirited Nigerians to promote the culture of giving back to the society especially to those that are in dire need for help.
The Foundation to the day in Lagos launched a book on ‘The Way To Happiness’ A Common Sense Guide To Better Living To Capture The Essence And Quest Of Life, as its contribution to developing better living condition of average Nigerian.
Speaking at the occasion, president of TWTH, prof. Magnus Atilade observed that a persons survival bears on his troubled existence which is a reaction to nice things happening to the person.
Atilade noted that all the activities of living creations is to ensure their survival and to attain a state of happiness and well being, adding that regardless of gender, religious inclination, color, creed, race or nationality to attain a state of happiness is common to all and that without happiness one tends to live a meaningless but chaotic life of total disorder and confusion.
According to him, in 2011, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution which recognised happiness as a “fundamental human goal” and called for “a more inclusive, equitable and balanced approach to economic growth that promotes the happiness and well-being of all peoples”.
Oriental News Nigeria reports that the day was created by a special advisor to the United Nations named Jayme Illien.
Jayme first brought up the idea of creating a new day to celebrate happiness to senior United Nations officials back in 2011.
The idea was even backed by former, Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki Moon, who agreed it should be made an official international UN calendar day.
Jayme wrote UN resolution 66/281 titled “International Day of Happiness” which all UN member states adopted by unanimous decision on June 28, 2012.
On the 3rd International Day of Happiness, Ban Ki Moon said: “Happiness for the entire human family is one of the main goals of the United Nations.”
He also urged people to dedicate their “efforts to filling our world with happiness.”
In 2012 the first ever UN conference on Happiness took place and the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution which decreed that the International Day of Happiness would be observed every year on 20 March and it was celebrated for the first time in 2013.
In 2014, the Day of Happiness campaign asked people to share authentic images of what makes them happy to “Reclaim Happiness” back from the fake commercial images of happiness that they are so often bombarded with. Many tens of thousands of people shared images and the social reach was estimated to be over 13 million people globally