International Day of Peace: WANEP Urges CSOs to Re-design Peace-building intervention strategies in Akwa Ibom communities

By Ekemini Simon

West Africa Network for Peace-building (WANEP), Akwa Ibom State Chapter has called on civil society organizations/networks to re-design peace-building intervention strategies in communities.

WANEP said the civil society organizations should be the key drivers who will form an interface between the communities and the government.

WANEP gave the recommendation on Friday in Uyo during a media briefing to mark the International Day of Peace Celebration with the theme “Actions for peace: Our ambition for the #GlobalGoals: Strengthening partnership and collaboration among Peace Actors and Agencies”.

According to the State Coordinator of WANEP, Amb. Peace Edem, there is a growing realization that something must be done differently to effectively address Nigeria’s current threats to peace and security, hence the need to encourage partnership between the government and the Civil Society/Peace Actors.

He noted that a draft policy on protecting civilians and mitigating civilian harm developed from 2016 to 2017 by the Nigerian Government in partnership with Civil Society Organizations needs to be revisited.

Edem said even if the government adopts the policy, given tenuous civilian control of the security forces, the Nigerian government will have to work with international donors and civil society on parallel efforts to incorporate civilian protection into training, doctrine, exercises, and operations of the security forces.

The Coordinator said due to the dynamics of the zone, peace-building interventions designed for use in the Niger Delta should provide a sustainability plan to cater for any new dimension and occurrence of violence.

 He said communities should also be made to take over ownership of the process at the end of any intervention and withdrawal by the civil society or international donor agencies stressing that the traditional methods of peace-building in the communities should be revisited.

Edem explained that there are challenges and prospects in women participation in peace and security but noted that it is important that the Civil Society Organizations work with the Nigerian government to develop legal frameworks and policies that will promote the inclusion of women/ women platforms in peace-building and conflict resolutions.

He added ” Government convening powers and Civil Society Networks offer important opportunities for fostering peace as does their ability to support the peace architecture. This is primarily because the Civil Society Organizations are grassroots based; they understand the people to the extent that they know their needs, try to address them and leverage on this for peace building.

“With the peculiarities in the South South geo-political zone, incidents include piracy, militancy, kidnapping, gang/cult supremacy clashes, armed robbery, killings for ritualistic purposes and organ trafficking, mob violence, sexual violence, human trafficking, communal violence, land disputes, separatist agitation, targeted violence against government security facilities and personal, extra-judicial killings, election violence and protests, PIND 2022.”

The International Day of Peace was established in 1981 by the United Nations General Assembly. Two decades later, in 2001, the General Assembly unanimously voted to designate the Day as a period of non-violence and cease-fire.