Background on The Setting up of A Coalition for Peace and Security in Nigeria (Focus on Northern Nigeria)- C4PS
Northern Nigeria is at a crossroad;
conflicts, stagnation and poverty is ravishing the land. There seems to be
conflict and insecurity in every corner of the North, ‘boko haram’ insurgency
in the North east states of Borno, Yobe, Gombe, Bauchi, Taraba and Adamawa and
Kano and Kaduna in the North West. There are religious and ethnic conflicts in
Plateau, Kaduna, Nasarawa, Benue, Taraba, Kogi, Niger, Kwara, Kebbi and Sokoto,
every state has witnessed some form of security breach or the other. The north
can be said to be facing a great challenge of security that is eating away its
economic and human resources. Business in affected areas have reduced, people
are living in constant fear of attacks and development work by local and
international NGOs has become slow due to inadequate enabling environment.
Additionally the rights and needs of
those affected by the conflicts are not being appropriately met. It is no
hidden fact that the North even before the heightening of the insurgency has
the worst development statistics, for example; The poorest states are in the
north west and north-east (NBS, 2011), maternal mortality is worst in north-
east at 1,716/100,000 live births against 337/100,000 live births in the south
west. In education primary school completion rate in the north east is between
1.3- 12.6% against 61.2-98.8% in the south west states. Similarly youth
literacy is at 48.9-58.6% in the same north-east as against 95.8-99% in the
south west. Again access to water in the north east is a poor 1-37% compared to
73-83% in the south-west. (All according to MICs 2009 as reported in 2010 MGDs
Report). Now with more than two years of conflicts the statistics would be even
worse.
The federal and state governments
have been doing their bits to respond to and even avert these conflicts. This
is mostly the usual use of force and temporary reconciliation with some
empowerment and relief support, which are yet to bring about an end to the violence.
As such the violent conflicts and restiveness continue and the security checks
points remain everywhere. At the last count 4000 people, including women and
children have lost their lives to the conflicts in the north, thousands of
properties including churches and mosques have been destroyed worth billions of
Naira. Additionally investment and
business flow into the region is at its lowest ebb
One age group that has become
prominent in every conflict, crisis or security breach is the youth. They
remain the foot soldiers which fuel the embers of violence in all conflicts.
Most of these youths are idle, unemployed, without skills and adequate
education. They are children of the poor and the vulnerable who are under the
manipulation of elites and politicians. One ugly feature of these youths is
their constant abuse of drugs, which influence and encourage their action. So
the youths of the north can be simply described as “Unskilled, drugged,
unemployed, poor and frustrated”. Then there are women and children who remain
the most affected by the conflicts and violence. Thousands of women have become
widows, without a breadwinner for the family and many children have become orphans
and displaced without access to essential needs and services.
With this situation in the north
several efforts have and are being made to improve it. Several pro-northern and
pro national organizations have held conferences and summits on the issue and
have continued to promote peace for the development of the region. Others have
gone forward to foster dialogue among conflicting parties and even hold skills
trainings and empowerment schemes for youths. Yet these efforts have remained
isolated, small and mostly unsustainable.
Yet one big gap in all the efforts
is the absence of an overwhelmingly citizen concern on the plight of the north
and their massive participation, individually and communally towards
ameliorating the situation. This is also against the background of the absence
of well coordinated and collaborative effort by the civil society organizations
working in the region. Many of such organizations do not even play any role
towards ensuring peace and security in their immediate communities, despite the
fact that it affects their work directly. This absence of a broad based network
of organizations, working or lobbying in effective coordinative uniformity and
contributive format to bring about a massive awareness and action in
communities across the north is very glaring.
Such an action could cause the
inculcation of community level initiatives to ensure permanent dialogue among
conflicting interests, early identification of flashpoints and change of
behavior among the youths while also providing succor and charity support to
unfortunate victims. It could also provide much needed data and information for
planning and evidence based documentation or control of conflicts. There will
also be the advantages of strength from unity and the learning and sharing of
best practices from each other as well as that of capacity building in the area
of peace and security.
After a careful deliberation of the above
issues, a group of civil society organization who met in Kaduna on the 20th
of April, 2013 unanimously agreed to form a coalition for the purpose of
promoting peace and security in the whole of Nigeria but with a focus on northern Nigeria.
Please join us!
