This article seeks to propose peace-building as a strategy for national reconciliation and economic revival and development in Nigeria. After 64 years of political independence, Nigeria is exposed to more multiple internal sources of threat to the peaceful coexistence of its peoples than ever before and more than any other nation in Africa, especially for a nation that is officially not at war. The reality, however, is that there are so many low-intensity conflicts and localised wars going on in various parts of the country, especially in the Northeast, Northwest, some parts of the North Central, and the Southeastern states. Insecurity and threat to peaceful coexistence manifest in the form of terrorism, insurgency, widespread kidnap for ransom, and deadly farmer-herder clashes. The major terrorist groups operating in the country have been Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), which operate largely in the Northeast; and Ansaru and, more recently, Lakurawa, which operate in the Northwest, mainly in the Nigeria-Niger border areas. Then, there are the devastating activities of private armed gangs called ‘bandits,’ operating largely in the Northwest, particularly in Zamfara State. The Eastern Security Network (ESN) in Southeast Nigeria also adds to the number of terrorist organisations, and there are also isolated acts of opportunistic kidnapping for ransom that take place on highways around the country.
The death toll from terrorist and violent attacks in Nigeria in the last 15 years is high, but accounts are sketchy. According to Statistica, 66,768 people died from Boko Haram attacks alone between 2011 and 2023 in six Northern states, with Borno State alone accounting for 38,255 casualties. Also according to Statistica, 1,245 people died in Nigeria from terrorist attacks in 2019, the second highest in the world. About 2.2 million people are reportedly displaced in Borno State alone. It is difficult to account for the economic costs of the wanton loss of life and property caused by these attacks in gross domestic product (GDP) terms, especially in terms of economic disruptions and loss of farm labour and agricultural productivity and production in Nigeria’s food basket states of the Northeast and North-central geopolitical zones.
Peacebuilding is both a global and local concern. The United Nations has a peacebuilding commission and has developed a New Agenda for Peace since 2021 to address the myriad of challenges facing the global community. The African Union’s Agenda 2063 also has peace and security as a major continental objective. The United States has an Institute of Peace, which hosts an Africa Centre and the Bureau for Conflict Stabilisation Operations at the U.S. Department of State. At the local level, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is collaborating with the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning to foster peace across Nigeria. In June 24 to 25, 2024, the Northwest Governors Forum held a security summit, hosted by the Katsina State Government, in collaboration with the UNDP against the background of increasing attacks by bandits. Also, Kaduna, Plateau, and Adamawa states have established their own peace agencies or commissions since 2016, which are working through civil society organisations and local community stakeholders to build peace at the local level. These efforts need to be replicated across the country at the subnational level. The North East Development Commission (NEDC) is officially responsible for peacebuilding in the Northeast geopolitical zone, but other states in the zone still need to emulate the example of Adamawa State by establishing their own peacebuilding commissions to work at the grassroots level and in collaboration with the NEDC.
“There is now an urgent need for an all-embracing and transformative national peace-building strategy to be coordinated by a national agency in the form of a National Peace-Building Commission (NPBC), with the requisite political support from the president.”
From the foregoing, it is evident that the security challenges facing Nigeria are enormous, but limited and uncoordinated peacebuilding efforts are being undertaken, especially by some Northern state governments. There is now an urgent need for an all-embracing and transformative national peace-building strategy to be coordinated by a national agency in the form of a National Peace-Building Commission (NPBC), with the requisite political support from the president. It should be headed by an executive vice chairman, with the president as the chairman of the board of the commission.
The proposed NPBC should work in close collaboration with existing peacebuilding agencies at the national level, like the National Human Rights Commission and the Institute of Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR), which is the leading think tank on conflict resolution in Nigeria. The IPCR, which is currently an agency of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, should be relocated to the Ministry of Internal Affairs so that it can give greater attention to pressing internal peacebuilding efforts in collaboration with the proposed NPBC.
The national peacebuilding strategy should give special attention to building peace in the Northeastern states and the Southeastern states in the short term. A massive non-kinetic campaign of political, socio-cultural, and religious re-education should be embarked upon targeting members of the Boko Haram sect, with very attractive incentives offered to those who are willing to lay down their arms, along with their families.
Similarly, in the Southeast, it should be remembered that the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) was a non-violent pressure group agitating against the marginalisation of the Southeast when it was declared a terrorist organisation by the Buhari regime. The strong-arm response meted out to IPOB was what led to it going underground to create the Eastern Security Network (ESN). This was precisely what happened when Boko Haram, as a socio-religious sect, was propagating its own brand of Islam in a non-violent way. Its leader, Mohammed Yusuf, and his followers and their family members were brutally murdered by government agents. Surviving members went underground and emerged as a terrorist group, and the rest is history. Long-term peace in the Northeast and the Southeast can best be achieved with a strong emphasis on peacebuilding, not an exclusive use of force.
Mr Igbinoba is Team Lead/CEO at ProServe Options Consulting, Lagos
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