Plan International, a Non-governmental Organisation (NGO) has targeted 200 youths as drivers of peace building in crisis prone communities of Kaduna State and Plateau.
Mr Charles Usie, Country Director of the Organisation, disclosed this at a Close Out workshop of the Middle Belt Youth Peace Building Academy Project (MBYPA) in Abuja on Tuesday.
Usie said that the Youth PeaceBuilding Academy (YPA) which began two years ago was aimed at developing the abilities of selected young leaders in Kaduna and Plateau.
According to him, the young leader is to design and lead their own initiatives that build peace and tolerance in their communities.
He said that the initiatives would strengthen the freedom of thought, conscience and religion of their respective communities by building social inclusion through awareness and tolerance of differing beliefs.
“The ultimate goal of the project is to improve the abilities of young leaders from diverse religious and ethnic backgrounds in Kaduna and Plateau State, to lead local initiatives that build peace and tolerance in their communities.
“The project reaches 200 direct beneficiaries from 10 communities in the two states through participation in YPA courses and reaches about five million indirect beneficiaries.
“Our unique approach is that while the youths will be targeted and sensitised on the need for peace as others have done before us, will be active drivers of the peace process.
“The initiatives, ideas and actions targeted at peace building will be solely theirs. They will be in the driver’s seat,” he said.
The country director said that the organisation targeted youths in these two states because they had stories of conflicts.
He added that in spite of efforts by state and non-state actors, crisis persisted but the initiative by the organisation to engage youths in peace building had yielded results.
He, therefore, called on peace building agencies in the communities and their state governments to leverage on the structure built as model that would be adopted and institutionalised.
“We will however, not pretend that we have solved decade’s long problem in two years. We will also not pretend that we have found the solution.
“We will not pretend that in just five communities in each of the states, we have resolve decades long conflicts, we will not pretend that with having to deal with the sudden and disruptive appearance of COVID-19 globally, things went smoothly.
“And, we have completely solved a long time problem, No. We will not even ascribe to ourselves the whole of the impact of these efforts.
“What we are certain of however, is that we have together with these young people come up with some ideas that can address the frightening situation, and there is ample evidence they will work if more investment is made in the approach,” he said.
Also speaking, Member, Plateau State House of Assembly, Mr Timothy Dantong, commended Plan International for the initiative, saying that the youth has brought relative peace to the communities.
Dantong promised to sustain the process of restoring peace to the state and appealed to Plan international to extend the initiative to other communities.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the initiative was in partnership with Aid Foundation and Center for Peace Advancement in Nigeria (CEPAN).
The five communities the project is implemented in Plateau are; Daffo, Yelwa-Shendam, Jos-Jarawa, Rukuba and Mangu while Kaduna communities are Kajuru, Rigasa, Kasuwan-Magani, Sabon-Gari and Birnin-Gwari. (NAN)