Experts embrace strategies to strengthen early warning, responses to conflicts
By Olasunkanmi Onifade
The Office for Strategic Preparedness and Resilience (OSPRE), in collaboration with other stakeholders have announced plans to strengthen early warning and responses to conflicts in the country.
The Director General of OSPRE, Mr Chris Ngwodo, in a statement on Thursday said this at a stakeholders meeting under the aegis of the Consortium for Conflict Resolution and Development (CONCORD).
The stakeholders include; the European Union, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and the ECOWAS Peace and Security Architecture and Operations (EPSAO) project.
The statement quoted Ngwodo as saying that the organisation, since inception in June 2022 was strengthening linkages between national, regional, local authorities, and non-state actors on its mission.
He said that CONCORD seeks to create synergies between all relevant stakeholders and stressed the need to be conscious of the nexus between security, peace and development.
The programme featured training sessions and deliberations with participants from security agencies,
the National Boundary Commission, National Orientation Agency, representatives from civil society organisations and observers.
One of the key partners, the Ubuntu Centre of Africa Peacebuilding and Development (UCAP), led by renowned conflict and mediation expert Prof. Oshita Oshita delivered a speech on the Cross River and Akwa Ibom security environments.
He recommended the establishment of community early warning and early response (CEWER) systems to identify and proactively address conflict signals across the states.
Oshita called for a study of the dynamics of the relationship of host communities, IDPs, refugees and farmer-herder conflicts in the two states.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that OSPRE, also known as the National Early Warning Centre of Nigeria, works with state actors and civil society to enhance the preparedness of institutions and communities and build their resilience to threats to human security.
The Consortium for Conflict Resolution and Development, the CONCORD Initiative, is OSPRE’s flagship peacebuilding programme.
The initiative was inaugurated in Abuja, in December 2022. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)
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Edited by Bashir Rabe Mani
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