Stakeholders seek ways to improve Women participation in Peace building

Stakeholders have converged on Abuja, Nigeria’s capital to seek ways of improving the participation of women in peace building in the north east.

In their separate remarks to the participants at the “Learning Forum on Women in Reconciliation and Reintegration in Northeast Nigeria,  the Minister Of Women Affairs, Dame Pauline Tallen and the Director General of the National Orientation Agency, Dr. Garba Abair, canvassed for an increase in the participation of women in peace building efforts.  

Tallen said the Forum convened by the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, was echoing an ‘Emergency Women Dialogue” held by the ministry which discussed how ‘mainstreaming women’s perspective in the overall security agenda, conflict resolution and peace mediation’, was an integral part of nation building.

“No doubt, women and girls remain the most affected by negative impacts of violent conflicts and insecurity, such as banditry, insurgency/terrorism, kidnappings/abductions …yet they are seldom integrated into peace building processes at all levels,” she said.

Echoing this, the Director General of NOA, Dr. Garba Abari said “we have engaged women in some communities and we found them to be more resilient, more forgiving, more disposed to building sustainable peace and more willing to forge ahead beyond the crisis.”  

Success recorded
Dr Abari said women inclusion in peace process piloted in Konduga, Gwoza and Dikwa Local Government Areas of Borno Sand had achieved tremendous success despite the fact that some communities still have active insurgency activities.

The Country Director of the HD Milicent-Lewis Ojumu told Voice of Nigeria that the project in the northeast has helped them to identify that “women were not only able to rationalise in their minds actually, there was a way forward but they then took it forward to their communities where they held further sessions.”

She added that “the more we dialogue, the more understanding and the more implementing partners like HD can come into that space of helping women that are keen to be leaders, that understand what is at stake and that are willing to champion the cause of promoting peace.”

The 2-day Forum which began on Monday has participants drawn from the North east of Nigeria and it’s also being attended by the Operation Safe Corridor, Office of the National Security Adviser as well as the co-sponsors, the UN Women and the IOM.

Mercy Chukwudiebere