PIND Mobilises 11,000 Peace Actors, Mitigates Over 2,000 Conflicts In Niger Delta

The Foundation for Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND) said the organisation,, through itspeace-building program,,hads strengthened the capacity of over 11,000 peace actors, while over 2,000 conflicts have been mitigated in 2023 and 2024 alone in the Niger Delta region.

The group emphasised that the approach had contributed immensely to stabilising the region for sustainable economic growth and development.

This was disclosed by Afeno Super Odomoro Peacebuilding Research Coordinator (PIND), who represented PND Executive Director Tunji Idowu, in a peacebuilding program with the theme: Capacity Strengthening for Prevention of Conflicts in Akwa Ibom State held over the weekend in Uyo.

According to the Executive Director, “PIND’s approach is driven by partnership and synergy amongst stakeholders based on inclusive principles, as women and girls, youths and people with disabilities (PWD), private, public, religious and traditional institutions are integral in all its interventions.”

He added, “Our ongoing collaboration with the Ministry of Niger Delta Development (MNDD) and the development and design of the Niger Delta Regional Peacebuilding Strategy (NDRPS) is a good example. Thus, the creation of the Prevent Council is within this spectrum. The Prevent Council is a multilevel conflict management sleadershipp, middle-range and grassroots leadership) based on the principle of local ownership and inclusive participation.”

The central goal, he opined, is to promote and sustain social cohesion and peaceful coexistence in society with no one left behind.

He explained, “The achievement of sustainable peace must involve multilateral engagements with the traditional institutions as critical positive influencers and conflict mediators in their respective states and communities. Data shows that violent conflict in the Niger Delta is mainly driven by a variety of interrelated and often overlapping factors. Conflict issues are mostly around criminality and communal tensions over land and boundary disputes, which often lead to violence, deaths, destruction of properties, and internal displacement of residents. Violent conflict has also been identified as a major driver of poverty in the region.”

“This informed the need for this strategic engagement of top government officials, notable traditional institutions, community influencers and other stakeholders to advise and take proactive actions to prevent, mitigate and resolve conflicts in the region through the Prevent Council.”

In 2022, PIND established and inaugurated PREVENT Councils in Akwa Ibom, Cross River and Delta to experiment with how local institutions and stakeholders, including traditional rulers and community leaders, can be leveraged for peacebuilding and conflict mitigation at the community, local and state levels in the Niger Delta.

Since the inauguration in 2022, the members have been working as positive influencers and conflict mediators within their respective states and communities, with a focus on communal land and boundary disputes, and some successes have been recorded. Given the successes achieved and the need for sustainability, we are expanding the Prevent Councils to communities and local governments that we have not hitherto covered, which are also hotspots of communal conflicts.

Speaking at the event, Dr. Emmanuel Akpanobong, Chairman of Prevent Council, Akwa Ibom, said people must be educated to understand their rights and limits. “Not giving proper information creates room for conflict. The government should not fold their hands and watch people die over issues they can handle with dispatch; we must do everything to prevent conflict.”

The Akwa Ibom State Commissioner of Police, represented by Assistant Commissioner ACP Suleh Musa, described the conflict as the mother of all crimes, stressing that heinous crimes such as burglary, armed robbery, rape and mindless killings often arise from conflicts.

Dr. Kufre Essien, Peace Building consultant to PIND, speaking on the sub-theme: mobilising traditional institutions as positive influencers and conflict mediators for peace and development in the Niger Delta, said PIND’s peacebuilding program is aimed at achieving the greater goal of regional and lasting peace in the Niger Delta; it achieves this through creating sustainable peace partnerships, encouraging collaboration and synergy amongst peace actors, providing support for economic development, and strengthening indigenous structures for peace while also creating and building interfaces with larger state-level peace efforts.

He highlighted, “The institution of traditional leadership plays critical and proactive roles in promoting and sustaining social cohesion, peace and order, as well as peaceful coexistence in societies. In this regard, traditional rulers play a vital role in peacebuilding at the grassroots level as part of the cultural heritage of the people. All peacebuilding private and public entities recognise the role of traditional institutions in maintaining peace and security, the challenge has been in the process of engagement.The high point of the occasion was the inauguration of the Prevent Council to provide strategic advice on what action to take and with whom to engage to prevent the escalation of violence at the community, local, and state levels.

They are also to engage traditional institutions as positive influencers and conflict mediators in their respective states and communities and respond to identified potential precursors of violence and instability in collaboration with the existing Partners for Peace Network and Prevent Committees and other stakeholders at the state, local and community levels.