A Peace Building Organisation, International Alert Nigeria has converged stakeholders in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital for a two-day workshop to address the root causes of violence and criminal activities in the Northeast and Northwest regions of the country.
The meeting, which is in collaboration with the Borno State Ministry of Information and Internal Security and the Forum of Commissioners and Advisers on Security of Northwest and Frontline States, aims to address the escalating patterns of violence, injustice, and criminality in the north.
According to Paul Nyulaku–Bemshima, Country Director International Alert Nigeria, the essence of the convergence is to ensure peer learning between the Northwest and the Northeast because there are a lot of initiatives that have been employed in the Northeast in managing violence, injustice and criminality which the Northwest could learn from.
“We leverage a lot on collaboration and partnership. We have very well engaged with the media and we see the media as strong partners the same way that we see decision makers as partners. We have worked at policy level, national, State level community level, ensuring that we promote stability, access to justice, reduce criminality, as well as gender based violence across Nigeria. We hope that these engagements will be the beginning of great things to come.”
The workshop will also serve as a platform for intensive discussions among key stakeholders and foster peer learning and collaboration as participants are expected to significantly synergize and distill the insights gained from the discussions, push advocacy and raise awareness on the critical issues arrived at.
One of the primary objectives of the workshop is to generate a comprehensive advocacy plan,informed by key resolutions from a previous National Stability Dialogues 1 & 2 which provided a national platform for discussing and strategising on issues related to stability in the country.
In a goodwill message, Senior Special to the President on International Cooperation, Dapo Oyewole, said Local leadership is the bedrock upon which international cooperation can be built.
He reaffirmed that the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration is committed to providing the leadership necessary to address the nations challenges and set the stage for international partners to complement as a paradigm shift from dependency to shared responsibility, which is crucial for sustainable development and long-lasting peace.
“The complexities of modern challenges require collaborative solutions that transcend borders and leverage international partnerships to forge sustainable solutions. However, to engage effectively with our international partners, we must understand their priorities and agendas and align them with our national interests and strategic objectives. This alignment is not about dependency but about mutual respect and shared goals, we must not approach with a begging bowl but with a handshake of partnership where we also put skin in the game through able, capable, and committed political leadership,” Oyewole said.
Key output from the meeting would be developed into a joint advocacy strategic plan to tackle some of the issues that are identified at different levels with key stakeholder institutions as it affects Northwest and the Northeast Nigeria.
International Alert, a peacebuilding organisation has been supporting peacebuilding and conflict prevention in Nigeria since 2011 through projects and efforts focused on contributing to greater social cohesion; the reintegration of women and girls who have experienced sexual violence and children associated with armed groups.
The workshop is supported by the United Kingdom International Development, through the “Promoting Stability, Access to Justice and Accountability in Northwest Nigeria Project” (Samun Adalchi Shi Ne Kwanciyar Hankali).
The “Samun Adalchi Shi Ne Kwanciyar Hankali” project aligns with global initiatives to address the root causes of violence.
The meeting with the theme ‘Addressing Patterns of Violence, Injustice and Criminality’ has participants drawn from the Northeast and Northwest States of Borno, Kaduna, Katsina, Kano and Zamfara.
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