The ActionAid Nigeria (AAN) has called for intense trainings and workshops for religious and community leaders on achieving peaceful coexistence and religious intolerance among the people in the country.
The Resilience Programme Coordinator, AAN, Anicetus Atakpu, made the call on Thursday while presenting a 33-page mid-term report of the System and Structure Strengthening Approach against Radicalisation to Violent Extremism (SARVE II project).
According to him, this is in line with the members of the community believing that religious leaders and traditional rulers have vital roles to play in preventing violent extremism.
Atakpu said that this includes careful selection of traditional rulers who have frequent engagement with community members for project activities to step-down messages to the wider community members.
He said for a more impactful reach, the evaluation team recommends, the project commence a 30-minute weekly radio programme that adopts humour and satirical approached to get locals more engaged.
“The radio programme messaging will focus on curbing violent extremism or peace building and peaceful coexistence in English and other local languages and will also give opportunities to collect feedback through the phone in segment,” he said.
He also said to adopt a decentralized public event particularly women conference and peace walk to have tailored messages without language or communication barriers with local community members.
In her key note address , the Country Director of ActionAid Nigeria, Ene Obi said ActionAid’s engagement with vulnerable communities in Nigeria through the System and Structure Strengthening Approach against Radicalisation to Violent Extremism (SARVE II project), funded by the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund (GCERF) which seeks to address these conflicts via its various activities in Kogi and Nasarawa states while also encouraging peaceful coexistence and dialogue as means of preventing violence and promoting peace.
She explained that the MTR report being disseminated highlights the progresses made by the project in tackling issues of conflict within the communities, evidence of work done as well as challenges therein.
“This gathering also presents a rare platform for ActionAid to engage with all the relevant stakeholders present here on their specific roles and responsibilities, at the National , state and community levels.
She assured that AAN will continue to challenge the status quo and support actions agreed geared towards addressing the abounding conflict issues hindering development of the poor and excluded in Nigeria.
