By Chioma Godwin
The Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR) has engaged stakeholders in a roundtable discussion on strategic conflict assessment to mitigate violence in the country.
In his welcome address, the Director General of IPCR, Dr. Bakut Bakut, expressed his joy over the meeting, which is geared towards addressing the prevailing conflict trends and dynamics in the country.
He said: “The discussion is part of the processes in which the Institute has taken to update the Strategic Conflict Assessment of Nigeria (SCA), which began in 2002. The SCA is the research flagship of the Institute in that it comprehensively covers all aspects of the nation’s conflict and criminal violence.
“The study is usually carried our by a team of multidisciplinary researchers and diverse professionals. It is from the SCA that national action plans are drawn to respond to the challenges of insecurity through peacebuilding and conflict prevention, early-warning and early response, advocacy, sensitization and awareness creation, capacity building and other strategies.”
The DG further explained that from the engagement, the security challenges is better understood and solutions proffered.
He said: “As government’s agency that is saddled with the responsibility of investigating the causes and dynamics of conflict in Nigeria and indeed Africa, and thereby makes evidence-informed recommendation to the decision makers, it is important for such institution to engage scholars, practitionersx security and civil society personnel in conversations to understand the current trends and dynamics of Nigeria’s conflict.
“The expectation of the Institute for the engagement is that it is when such conversations are held with different stakeholders that we can have wide-ranging insightful analyses and robust suggestions into the challenges of insecurity in the country.”
In his remarks, the head of Directorate of Research and Policy Analysis of IPCR, Dr. Joseph Ochogwu, disclosed that the Institute has been working with stakeholders in the country and outside the country to achieve the mandate of bringing peace to the country.
He specifically said that they partner with World Bank, agencies from foreign countries and also work with the security outfit in the country like the Army, DSS, Police, even the academia for strategic conflict assessment.
He added that they also engage all stakeholders both state and no state actors to respond to the challenges of insecurity.
