By; EDEM DARLINGTON, Calabar
The Presidential Committee on the North-East Initiative (PCNI) has signed an MOU with the Center for Democracy and Development to strengthen the coordination of peace and reintegration efforts for survivors and perpetuators in North East Nigeria.
The MoU was signed at the Sheraton Hotel Abuja and witnessed by many state actors who actively engaged in the North East. Including National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), National Orientation Agency (NOA), Ministry of Women Affairs, and Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR). Others also present at the occasion were the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI) and the representatives of Borno and Yobe state governments.
According a director at the CDD, Idayat Hassan “A critical milestone has been recorded having had the actors participated in a roundtable discussion, reviewed and adopted coordination framework”
The PCNI was inuagurated by President Muhamadu Buhari with a mandate to serve as the primary national strategy, coordination and advisory body for all humanitarian interventions, transformational and developmental efforts in the North-East geo-political zone of Nigeria.
The release says, both state and non-state actors have been making lots of efforts towards ensuring peace building and rehabilitation, chiefly in response to the needs of the people, including the communities, victims, among others, in the conflict-ridden States of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe.
However, there are gaps in terms of absence of effective and efficient linkages, coordination, monitoring and evaluation of these activities as to measure in small and in holistic terms the progress both state and non-state actors are making in resolving the conflict in the North East. This has remained a major challenge to peace building process in the zone.
The partnership between CDD and PCNI has therefore led to the development of a coordination framework/architecture. The framework is based on some guiding principles and core values that will drive coordination including building synergy, information exchange, enhance value chain evidence and collaboration based on leveraging on each other’s strength for productive outcome. It covers activities in the northeast ranging from countering radical and violent extremism, victim support, offender support, Peace and Justice Initiative and technical support. Within the context of this, PCNI is positioned to establish linkages across different actors (state and non-state actors) interventions, provide and serve as the coordinating body for all stakeholders and run holistic monitoring and evaluation that defines milestones and measures progress, challenges and way forward.
CDD appreciates the efforts of all the state actors and PCNI towards resolving the conflict in the north east and will continue to support this engagement.
The Centre is as an independent, not-for-profit, research training, advocacy and capacity building organization, established in the United Kingdom in 1997. Our purpose is to mobilize global opinion and resources for democratic development and provide an independent space to reflect critically on the challenges posed to the democratization and development processes in West Africa.
