OPINION BY OLALEKAN A. BABATUNDE: The case for a national peace policy in Nigeria | TheCable
The current dynamics and realities of vicious cycles of never-ending structural, direct and cultural violence and violent extremism in Nigeria have demonstrated the urgent need for a new peace strategy. Since 1999, we have witnessed worsening causes, new and ignorant conflict actors, the enlarged geographical spread of violence and the exploitation of violence by conflict entrepreneurs, among a plethora of phenomena.
From experience, the issues of conflict seem to have divided us more than unified us to address them. Responses have often been reactive rather than strategic, long-term, and preventive approaches to peacebuilding. Peacebuilding happens mostly during “emergencies”, for instance, during acute fear of electoral violence. Among the peacebuilding community, responses and approaches are sometimes out of date or at cross-purposes as conflict dynamics have changed significantly over time.
In this new administration’s quest to rejig the security architecture of the country to attract foreign investment, promote national unity and foster peaceful coexistence, it is imperative to take a closer look at working with its institutions and agencies saddled with the mandates to promote peace-related activities through research, conflict prevention and conflict resolution inventions to actualise this peace plan.
As the new service chiefs reportedly resolved to use “maximum force against terrorists, bandits and other enemies of state”, we should by now know that kinetic force alone cannot address the myriads of underlying drivers of the violence perpetrated by these non-state actors. If so, the nation would have been ridden with these miscreants since 1999.
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