USAID State2State Activity holds third quarter Gombe conflict mitigation, prevention dialogue
The Gombe state field office of the United States Agency for International Development Nigeria, State Accountability, Transparency and Effectiveness State to State Activity has organised a one-day conflict prevention and mitigation dialogue forum for the third quarter.
The activity is to support the Gombe State Government in mainstreaming sensitivity and mitigating conflicts in the state.
Held at the Custodian Hotel Gombe, the dialogue session facilitated by the S2S Conflict Specialist Mr Mathias Yake, focused on efforts made by stakeholders to foster peace and stability in Gombe state.
The quarterly dialogue session brought relevant stakeholders to include representatives of traditional institutions,religious groups, civil society organisations, Gender and Social Inclusion officers from relevant ministries,departments and agencies, a director from the Gombe state ministry of internal security and ethical orientation and Person with Disability.
The participants also took stock of conflict-related incidents in gombe state as well as proffered possible solutions and information for inclusion into the quarterly conflict analysis framework update.
Participants brainstormed on conflict issues and drivers of conflict that negatively impact revenue generation and service delivery in the stater and that if not checked could trigger conflict amongst citizens and shop burgling.
In an address of Welcome, The S2S Gombe State Team Lead, Alhaji Muhammad Abubakar, said the quarterly dialogue forum brings together relevant stakeholders to review conflict update from the previous quarter ,emerging conflict, it root cause, impact ,prevention and mitigation.
The intervention according to the state team lead contributes to the S2S objectives and intermediate results in strengthening the sub-national government’s capacity to manage conflict.
The Gombe State Chairman Association of Non Governmental Organisations Ibrahim Yusuf said peaceful coexistence is paramount to easy access to social services such education, health, water.
He said S2S supports the dialogue session quarterly to discuss burning issues on conflict mitigation and prevention so as to have a peaceful Gombe State.
Yusuf added that emerging issues outlined at the meeting included political thuggery resurfacing in the metropolis and kumo in akko local government area.
The ANGO Chairman said recommendation made in respect to the emerging issue is the need for the community to defend themselves following the rules of engagement and liaise with security agencies .
He advised stakeholders to identify problems together with solution and recommendation as well as work in synergy with one another to prevent and mitigate conflict.
A communique issued at the end of the dialogue, raised key issues to include; Increase in criminality across communities such as Kumo, and Kashere, where touts harass traders in the market and collect money from them. Rising food insecurity due to the high cost of food items and citizens’ low purchasing power.
Attack and robbery by suspected Kalare boys, who invade communities and rob households of their valuables and even innocent citizens on the way.
Strengthening community resilience and self-help projects to secure communities from criminal activities should be supported by the government.
This the communique added will go a long way to complement the government’s efforts in securing communities and making them more peaceful.
The communique recommended the he need for government to sensitize youths on early warning signs of conflict and engage communities before making decisions on the location of projects to reduce inter-community rivalries.
CSOs and other Non-government stakeholders to advocate for the state government to increase budgetary allocation and releases to all MDAs relevant to internal security in the state to enable them to function effectively.
The Government should increase investment in technical/vocational skills acquisition programs to reduce unemployed youths’ vulnerability to crimes.
Traditional rulers support the state and local government by leveraging traditional institutions to enlighten community members on conflict identification, prevention and mitigation.
