EDITORIAL

Recently, the governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, launched the state’s Conflict Early Warning and Early Response System (CEWERS) of the Kaduna State Peace Commission. It is one step in many of the steps that the state government has been taking to ensure security of lives and property in the state. At ElRUFAi News Magazine, we take full note of the measure as we see it as one that indicates how serious the government is in ensuring that peace reigns in the state.

The journey of the present government in its efforts to curb incidence of violent conflict and banditry reaction has been a long, energy-demanding, and almost frustrating one. Why? As the government tries, so it comes up against undesirable elements who are determined to keep the state perpetually insecure. At ElRUFAi News Magazine we are convinced the current administration means well for all the people of Kaduna State, but it has been perceived wrongly and projected wrongly, and sometimes deliberately so in some quarters. Political party affiliation is a strong factor. Religious affiliation is another. The most important of all is the tribal factor. Even the state governor acknowledged this at the time he carried out the launch of CEWERS.

According to El-Rufai, “Bandits and other insurgents have unleashed fear and anxiety in communities across the state. The criminals kill people, steal property, burn houses, harass farmers and rustle livestock. The 2020 security incidents report issued by our Ministry of Internal Security show that banditry is a problem across the state, and that it is also complicating communal relations in our more diverse communities. Victims of the depredations of these criminals often turn on those they believe share ethnic or religious affinity with them. Stopping the bandits is an essential contribution to ending communal conflict.”

The governor’s view as expressed here is a position we have taken for years with regard to state and national security challenges. We believe no government at either state or national level has set out a plan to annihilate members of any tribe or religion as some generally claim, thereby causing division among people. We believe that the government of Kaduna State set out from day one to do justice to every resident of Kaduna State, contrary to the claims being made in some quarters. We believe that some factors within and outside Kaduna State have combined to complicate the incidence of violence attacks in many communities across the state, and is not limited to one part as some want to make the outside world believe.

Also, we believe that as criminal elements carry out more and more attacks, some, especially  opinion leaders,  have for other ulterior reasons seized the opportunity which insecurity in Kaduna State presented to promote ethnic and religious divisions. We believe such people, by claiming ethnic and religious persecution, have merely been latching on to any populist idea that they can use to gain attention over the criminal attacks in their area, meanwhile these attacks are not limited to their area.   We believe that such people know exactly what they are doing, and that they have deliberately chosen to ignore the fact that lapses in the nation’s current security architecture are largely responsible for how criminal elements attack as they do. We believe such people choose to not take into cognizance the fact that similar violent attacks are taking place not only in Kaduna State but across the country as well, which is a pointer to the general challenges posed by the current security arrangement in Nigeria.

In view of the foregoing, at ElRUFAi News Magazine, we take the position that the government of Kaduna State is on point when it connects incidence of banditry to how it is polarizing the state and therefore decides to do something about it. We also take the position that the latest step taken by the Peace Commission is beneficial. The stance we take with regard to the activities of the Peace Commission does not start today. When the Commission was set up by the government in 2017, we were quick to declare our support for it as well as offer words of advice, such as the need for the Commission to set up a state-wide sports event which the youth and the general public would be able to see and relate with as one evidence of its activities.

We made the recommendation believing that conflict resolution and peace building process is not a public event. It is an endeavour that requires tact, quiet consideration about ways and means, as well as seeking the support of relevant and high-caliber stakeholders in a diplomatic manner. It is a process that is essentially carried out behind closed doors. So before the wise men and women in the Commission would retire to carefully consider measures needed to resolve conflicts and promote peace in the state, we recommended back in 2017 a sports event that would place them firmly in the public space even as they sat to consider other ideas that were needed for the success of the process.

Since 2017, we have watched as the Peace Commission took one step after the other. It was a gradual one but it was steady, and it was such that the international community took note of its activities  and commended the government of Kaduna State for conceiving such in-house peace building mechanism. We have also noted how the government gave total support to the Commission, showing its commitment to its declared goal of restoring peace among the peoples of Kaduna State, many of whom have been on the receiving end of past sporadic outbreaks of violent conflicts. Today, the latest in the efforts made by the Commission is the deployment of its Conflict Early Warning and Early Response System (CEWERS). This is significant for the following reasons.

Some past outbreaks of violence were avoidable if only a warning mechanism were in place. There was none in the nature of what the Peace Commission has now set up. Some issues that led to outbreaks of violence in the past could have been peacefully resolved. But they were not because a mechanism that was strong enough to deal with this was not in existence. CEWERS has now come on stream on the platform of a state institution namely the Peace Commission; as such it is better placed and better organized to face the challenges of providing early warning as well as respond appropriately. 

In addition, the Commission has members with high-standing in the society,  and it has also gained the support of other influential stakeholders such as religious and traditional leaders across the state. This feature can assist in ensuring that CEWER is effective unlike in the past when a body of this high quality was not in existence. Moreover, this is a bottom-up approach as the cooperation and support of residents themselves will be required if the efforts towards conflict early warning as well as early response must be successful. As such we believe CEWER is a mechanism configured in way that ensures people are effectively involved in the peace process and their views and suggestions are given official attention unlike what existed under previous administrations. Worthy of note also is that  fully behind CEWER is a government that has shown a commitment towards  restoring peace in the state. This is a government that has severally stated that peace is needed if there must be economic prosperity as well the right environment where Kaduna State can continue its march towards regaining its past greatness.

CEWER will therefore be a major contributor to the maintenance of peace, even as its recommendations will help ensure that the activities of criminal elements do not continue to cause divisions among residents across Kaduna State. We urge all the people of Kaduna State to support the government in this effort irrespective of tribal, religious, or political affiliations. We wish the Peace Commission and the Kaduna State government success with this latest initiative, and we hope through it residents of Kaduna State will have respite from the activities of criminal elements.