ActionAid Nigeria (AAN) and the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund (GCERF) have called for full adoption and implementation of the Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (PCVE) in Nigeria.
They made the call at a stakeholders’ consultative forum on PCVE implementation in Nigeria, which was organised by AAN in collaboration with the GCERF and the Office of the National Security Advisor Counter Terrorism Centre.
Nigeria, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace’s Global Terrorism Index 2020, is the third most terrorised country in the world.
With increasing reports of killing, kidnapping, and bloodletting across the country, the organisations noted that the PCVE, if fully implemented, will strengthen the strategic approach to the deradicalisation of terrorists in the country.
The PCVE, which aims to effectively respond to the challenges and threats of terrorism and violent extremism, will focus more on prevention through the reinforcement of structural changes, community engagements, and the encouragement of resilience among community members.
In her remarks, AAN Country Director, Ene Obi, said, ‘All these are clear indications of the need for concerted efforts on peace and security in the country.
‘ActionAid Nigeria, in line with the theme of the National Action Plan on PCVE in Nigeria “Partnering for Safer and Resilience Communities”, believes that peace and security is the business of everyone.
‘Therefore, we have engaged the process through its systems and Structure Strengthening Approach against Radicalization to Violent Extremism (SARVE) Project funded by the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund, (GCERF)’.
Through its SERVE II project in Nasarawa and Kogi, ActionAid has reached 1,614 persons with useful life skills to keep them engaged.
Also speaking, the Coordinator, Counter Terrorism Centre, Rear Admiral Yaminu Musa, said that aside from enforcing the PCVE in Nigeria, cooperation amongst government agencies as well as its citizens was pertinent.
‘In our case, the Boko Haram insurgency has negatively impacted virtually every facet of our human endeavour, including the economy’, he said.
‘One of the precursors of terrorism is violent extremism.
‘It is on this realisation that the federal government, in August 2017, signed the presidential directive on the National Action Plan on PCVE.
‘The inherent difficulties in combating terrorism calls for more cooperation and assistance across government and across society’.
For her part, the GCERF Country Manager, Sarah Le Mesurier, restated support in ensuring the enforcement of the PCVE in Nigeria.
Source: Vanguard
Photo source: Nigerian Army
