By Charles Abere
The United States Institute of Peace (USIP),Nigeria has sought partnership with the Institute of Peace and Conflict Resolution(IPCR), for sustainable peace building across Nigeria.
Dr Chris Kwaja, Interim USIP Country Director Nigeria, said this when he led a team on a visit to the Director-General of IPCR in Abuja.
Kwaja said that the visit was with the hope to building a partnership on the basis of shared understanding and knowledge on peace building in make Nigeria a more peaceful place.
“The visit by USIP Nigeria, which I led is to first congratulate the D-G of IPCR over his appointment as somebody who is a professional in the area of peace building.
“We feel it is a welcome development for such an individual who has a sound knowledge of the peace building landscape, this is with a view to boosting the peace landscape.
“What we see right now is that the management of diversity is one important issue that should define leadership in Nigeria at this critical point in our history.
“The IPCR as an institution of the Federal Government is well positioned to do that and it should be supported, from our perspective as USIP.
”We believe that such kind of strategic partnership and support is something that we can work with,”he said
Kwaja said that there were other actors and partners within the peace building space that USIP would be engaging to ensure that IPCR was given the maximum support that it deserved.
He said that the visit was also an opportunity to give insight into USIP’s work which included work with facilitators , men and women within Nigeria supported by USIP.
According to Kwaja, this is to to respond to more localised conflict at the community level.
This, he said, was because USIP believed that when actors at the community level were supported with training and other skills required for mediation and dialogue.
He said: ”Then a community of people who would be able to manage differences in a non violent way would be built.”
Kwaja said that the second pillar of USIP’s work was with the working group on peace building and governance made up of eminent citizens in the country.
Kwaja said USIP supports the group’s work in the area of policy advocacy and engagement at the strategic leadership level .
He said that the third pillar of USIP’s work has to do with support to state-level peace building institutions .
Kwaja said that so far, the institute had worked with Plateau and Kaduna States among others, to respond to some of the needs of the states on issues around conflict management and peace building.
He said: “We also believe that knowledge production is one of the central pillars of public policy and USIP has been quit active in this and launched the State of Peace in Nigeria Report.
“The report basically seeks to understand and draw attention and show how communities have been able to respond to some of the peace building needs.
”This is something that needs to be appreciated and taken note of by government, international partners and stakeholders.”
Dr Joseph Ochugwu, Director-General of the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR), reiterated his commitment to partner with USIP for lasting peace in across Nigeria.
Ochogwu stressed the importance of working together to entrench using non-kinetic approaches to tackle the various root causes of conflicts in the country.
He assured that his institute’s doors were open for strategic and sustainable collaboration with USIP on any matter relating to peace building and conflict resolution to help Nigeria surmount her present challenges.