Stakeholders Call for Peace Building Programmes Among Nasarawa Groups
By Chris Nyamtu
Stakeholders at a three-day workshop on Conflict early warning and early response Systems in Nigeria have called on the Government at all levels to entrench sustainable formidable structures aimed at the promotion of dialogue and social cohesion among the diverse ethnic and religious groups in the country.
The workshop which was organized by the Institute of Peace and Conflict Resolution in collaboration with some international organizations including Mercy Corps and United States Agency for International Development, brought together heads of security agencies, traditional and religious leaders, local vigilantes and civil society organizations.
Addressing participants at the workshop in Lafia the Nasarawa State capital, the Director-General of the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution Dr Joseph Peter Ochogwu explained that the essence of the project was to mitigate the escalation of conflict using the early warning and early response approach.
He stressed the need for leaders to adopt dialogue, peace-building and community engagement at all times as ways of resolving conflict to promote peaceful coexistence among the people.
The Director-General represented by the Coordinator, Mr. Steve Agbo called on conflict response enforcement agencies especially the security to always respond to early warnings and act promptly as part of steps toward averting violence.
One of the facilitators, Chidozie Acholonu in a paper presentation entitled “Introductory to Civil-Military Relations for Human Security in Nigeria”, noted that building trust between security agencies and the civilian populace, respect for human rights and equality are some of the major ways of preventing conflict.
Some of the participants Mrs Justina Allu from the Nasarawa State Ministry of Justice and the representative of the Civil Society Organizations Mr Ibrahim Samaila called on the government to initiate more programmes to enlighten the people on the importance of reporting early warmings of conflicts to relevant agencies for necessary action.