UK: Borno State Governor Addresses Int’l Retreat On Peace Building

Governor of Borno State, Babagana Zulum, has addressed a group of participants at a four-day working retreat that aims to strengthen Borno’s peace-building efforts by attracting more support from the international community.

The retreat, which focuses on support for victims of Boko Haram attacks and managing repentant insurgents, is holding at the University of Oxford from September 13 to 16, 2023.

The retreat has the theme: “Strengthening the Borno Model” of peace-building in terms of improving pathways to the successes recorded in encouraging mass exit of Boko Haram fighters and addressing shortcomings of the model.

The retreat was organised by UK-based Inter Mediate, a registered charity institution working towards ending armed conflicts around the world.

The charity body is partnering with “(international) experts on the development of implementation plans on transitional justice and strategic communications, and to set out a vision for the next phase of the Borno Model within the context of Nigeria’s wider peace strategy”.

The retreat is supported by the UK’s High Commission in Nigeria.

Zulum arrived in the UK on Wednesday evening and on his arrival, he was hosted to a welcome dinner at the first college in the University of Oxford. He was hosted by Baroness Valerie Amos, the master of the college (the first-ever black head of an Oxford college).

Governor Zulum on Thursday made a presentation titled “The Borno Model- a strategic vision for the next phase (results, ambition and challenges).” 

The retreat had presentation on “centering Borno In a Nigerian and Regional Peace Strategy (setting the Borno model within Nigeria and LCB’s wider conflict resolution approach and harmonizing the model with the dialogue initiative)”. 

The retreat is expected to produce “a winning communication strategy” and “a legal framework for transitional justice” for the Borno Model with a 100-day action plan for implementation.

The retreat has representatives from the Nigerian Federal Government, the Nigerian military, the UK High Commission and consulting experts.

The governor is attending the retreat alongside a delegation that includes Borno’s Commissioner for Information and Security, Professor Usman Tar, the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Barrister Hauwa Abubakar, the special adviser on security, Brigadier General Abdullahi Sabi Ishaq (retired), the chief adviser and coordinator on

Sustainable Development, Partnerships and Humanitarian Support and the special adviser on media and strategy, Malam Isa Gusau.

Dominica Nwabufo