Photo: IPCR’s DG, Dr Bakut
The Center for Peace and Environmental Justice (CEPEJ), a Non-Governmental Organisation, (NGO) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a partnership with the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR) to curb conflicts in Nigeria.
CEPEJ also donated a building to IPCR for the institute’s operations in the South-South, which is also aimed at embarking on collaborative efforts to address Nigeria’s multiple security challenges.
The NGO in a statement on Saturday in Abuja, signed by Amb. Mulade Sheriff, its National Coordinator, said that part of the partnership would also entail a joint, robust advocacy campaign on peaceful coexistence within the South-south region and the entire country.
The statement said Sheriff, who made this known during a CEPEJ team’s visit to the institute’s headquarters in Abuja, commended IPCR for its dedication to resolving conflicts in the country, adding that the agreement they entered would help promote peace and prevent conflicts across Nigeria.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has taught us that trust, partnership, and solidarity are essential for confronting threats to peace and security. This agreement is indeed a significant milestone in our ongoing collaboration.
“Strong peacebuilding organisations like ours are more important now than ever for bringing communities together while trying to meet other Sustainable Development Goals.
“The MoU is not just a piece of paper as it commits us to close partnership in the key areas of peacebuilding, conflict resolution and development of the society.
“With this MoU, we are building a joint action from the local to global level, taking necessary steps to implement the 2030 Peace Agenda and its SDGs,’’ the statement quoted Sheriff as saying.
It further said Sheriff noted that Nigeria faced complex challenges which have profound implications for peace, security and inequality, that must be addressed.
According to the statement, the challenges are complex and interwoven and can only be tackled by working together at the individual, local, regional, national and global levels. It named some of the challenges as the prospect of irreversible climate change and increased migration flows.
Responding, Dr Bakut Bakut, IPCR Director-General,noted that the institute’s aims are to serve as a research center, a think-tank and an agency for the promotion of peace, conflict prevention, resolution and management.
Bakut said: “IPCR is committed to providing Africa with policy options based on result-oriented research. We are committed to building capacities and intervening in conflict spots to enable Africa to emerge as a secure, peaceful and democratic continent where the principles of the rule of law and human dignity are respected.
“There are so many similarities between CEPEJ and IPCR,as both have a common vision to focus not just on Nigeria but the whole of Africa
“CEPEJ is a special organisation that the institute needs to partner, and the new office will cover the whole of the South-South in our collaborative efforts to achieve peace through measures aimed at preventing and managing conflicts.”
The statement added that the IPCR boss disclosed that the institute had already commenced a nationwide awareness campaign to curtail the ongoing insurgency, kidnapping, banditry, killings, farmers-herders clashes and destruction of lives and properties across the country.
