Abbas Bamalli, Katsina
Youths and other stakeholders have commended the commitment of an international NGO, Mercy Corps and other partners for their struggle towards ensuring youth peace and security in Katsina State.
The stakeholders made the commendation at the end of a two-day intensive youths peace and security dialogue organised in Katsina State.
The dialogue was aimed towards creating awareness among youths and other relevant stakeholders, in promoting youth peace and security in the state.
Some of the participants who shared their experience, said they have never experienced a good initiative towards ensuring youth peace and security like now.
Dr Bashir Ruwan-Godiya, one of the resource persons said the dialogue came at the right time, because most of those involved in the banditry, conflict and other criminal activities are youths.
He explained that in most cases, the youths are also at the receiving end whenever there is conflict or killing in the state and in the country as a whole.
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Ruwan-Godiya also commended the Mercy Corps, other partners and also the state’s ministry of youth and sports development for organising such an important dialogue.
It’s important that these Youths were brought together to discuss an important issue like this, so that they should also give their contributions to the peaceful development of the state.
Malam Sani Yahaya, the Director of youths in the state’s ministry of youths and sports development, said the state government is doing everything possible to engage the youths in meaningful activities.
He added that through the ministry, the state government has a lot of work plans towards empowering the youths, in order to make them self-reliant and reduce redundancy among them.
“With the government’s commitment in empowering the youths, it will distance them from any form of criminal activities, and that will improve peace and security in the state,” he said.
Badiya Karim from Jibia local government area, while commending the organisers, said youths in the area have learned a lot in peace building across their communities.
According to her, before the intervention by Mercy Corps and other partners, there was no peace in their communities, because little things lead to fighting and other conflicts among them.
“But we thank God, since we were trained on transitional justice by Mercy Corps, we learned to resolve whatever problem that happened within the people of our communities.
“Honestly speaking, we now have peace in our communities, because we embarked on constant community dialogue and sensitisation,” according to her.
The dialogue was organised through the Conflict Mitigation and Community Reconciliation in Northwest Nigeria (CMCR-NW) project, focusing on Batsari, Danmusa, Jibia and Kankara LGAs.
The dialogue was also in collaboration with the state government, Centre for Democracy Development (CDD), International Organisation for Migration (IOM), and funded by the European Union.