Worried about the spate of insecurity, the Nigerian Army has opted for non kinetic means of conflict resolution in tackling the twin problems of secessionist agitation and insecurity in South East .
This method is expected to bring about a more lasting peace deal in the zone.
The General Officer Commanding 82 Division, Nigerian Army, Major General Hassan Dada made this disclosure in a one day regional workshop on enhancing synergy among peace builders in South East organized by the Security, Violence and Conflict Research Group (SVC-RG) University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in collaboration with the United States Institute of Peace.
A cross section of peace building and conflict resolution stakeholders which included government officials, security agencies, traditional institutions and civil society organizations as well academics who brainstormed at the workshop called for other alternatives to force in ensuring peace in the zone and country at large.
The army commander noted that though the army was trained in the use of force to combat any form of insurrection, it has been discovered that use of force in addressing the peculiar security issues in the South East does not provide lasting peace and address the root causes of the challenges.
According to him, anyone in the South East will know that in the last four to five years, we have not had a good Christmas as a result of insecurity. But last year’s Christmas was very peaceful, indicating the progress we have made working in collaboration with other security agencies in the region.
Dada called on every other stakeholders to ensure that had been achieved through the synergy with sister agencies were built upon.
Coordinator SVC-RG, UNN and facilitator of the workshop, Prof. Freedom Onuoha in his speech harped on the urgent need for connectivity and collaboration among the community of peace builders to ensure lasting peace in the South East zone.
He commended the Nigerian Army, as a key player in peace building for agreeing to adopt peaceful methods in addressing security challenges in the zone.
The University don stressed that the idea was to bring peace builders together to deliberate on the progress made in the region and review some of the challenges and setbacks as well as chart the way forward for sustainable peace and security.
According to him, “we have already talked of the idea of forming a South East Peace-building Forum which will serve as a platform that brings these diverse actors together to reflect on the emerging security challenges and fashion sustainable peace “.
Onuoha pointed out that this was like “seed sowing intervention. We are generating ideas which will be developed and sustained in such a way that we can begin to talk about the restoration of durable peace in the South East region.
He commended the GOC who emphasized that the ability to deal with the security challenges will depend on the robust adoption of both the kinetic and non kinetic means.
In his contribution, the Community Engagement Officer of USIP, Terfer Hemen, said that the goal of the institute is to see how to coordinate and bring civil society organisations together to synergize and come up with more effective strategies to address the issue of insecurity and bring peace to the South East.
” Basically, this is becof the level of insecurity in the South East, and not just in South East but the whole of Nigeria. For USIP, the goal is non violence. We keep passing the message of using non-violence approach to achieve peace.
Hemen expressed happiness that the GOC, 82 Division had assured that the army had gotten to the point where it would be deploying non kinetic means to achieve peace in the South East region.
