The Head, Prevention and Countering Violent Extremism (PCVE) in the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), Mrs. Aisha Umar Garba, has urged states to develop action plans and community-based platforms to check violent extremism across the country.
She made the call in Abuja during a validation meeting of a study on “Preventing and Responding to Violent Extremism in some selected states and the FCT”.
The study was carried out in 2018 by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in collaboration with the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).
According to her, findings from the study underscored the urgent need for states and local governments to activate community-based response approach towards ensuring the efficacy of the National Action Plan (NAP) in preventing and responding to violent extremism in the country.
The Team Lead, Governance, Peace and Security Unit of the UNDP (Nigeria), Dr. Matthew Alao, said violent extremism had been gaining ground in the country, hence, its collaboration with the ONSA in carrying out the study on how best to tackle the challenge.
The UNDP Consultant and expert on Preventing and Responding to Violent Extremism, Dr. Gbemisola Animasawun, while presenting the key findings of the survey, noted that many states still lived in denial on violent extremism, adding that there are no action plans in states to respond to violent extremism.
He emphasized the need for domestication of the four components of the national action plan on preventing violent extremism in states as well as building capacities of traditional institutions to ensure early tracking, monitoring and reporting of violent extremism cases in their localities.
The publisher of Premium Times, Dapo Olorunyomi, said the media has a critical role to play in designing right messaging to counter violent extremism in the country.
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