THE European Union (EU) and British Council supported Managing Conflict in Nigeria (MCN) programme, has trained 450 community and religious leaders on conflict management in Borno.

The Lead Manager of the Programme, Ms Zara Goni, made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Maiduguri.

“The goal of the MCN programme is to strengthen the government and other institutions to be able to respond to conflict in a non violet manner.

“We have five areas of interventions.

“Conflict management, where we strengthen traditional rulers and religious leaders to be able to respond to conflict within the communities.

“And, this also include capacity building in alternative dispute resolution, transitional justice and creating dialogue platforms in the communities, to first detect early warning signs and come up with solution to local problems.

“We are also working in areas of reconciliation; we want to strengthen the responsiveness of the security sector to the citizens within the communities through dialogue.’’

Goni said the programme was designed to enhance community participation in conflict management and peace building process in communities ravaged by Boko Haram insurgency.

She said that a similar training would be conducted in Adamawa and Yobe.

Goni further said that the MCN had initiated various programmes to facilitate rehabilitation and reintegration of children linked with armed conflict.

She said it would also provide vocational training to members of the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF), to enable them learn a trade and engage in productive activities.

The manager added that the porgramme in collaboration with development organisations implemented skill acquisition programmes to empower women affected by the conflict, and to promote women participation in peace building process.

“We encourage women to form cluster and build resilience to enable them contribute to the peace restoration, to achieve sustainable social and economic development.’’

Goni said the programme was targeted at four million people affected by the Boko Haram conflict in the north east.

-NAN

BE

– Dec. 10, 2018 @ 15:55 GMT |