As part of the peace building project with the theme “A Community Centered Approach to Transforming Criminality and Violence in the Niger Delta” (CRIN-VIN), Search for Common Ground (SEARCH) and its consortium of partners has inaugurated a State-level Peace Architecture (SPA) in Rivers State, charged with the responsibility of handling conflict issues from the state levels involving state actors.
The Inaugural Meeting which held on the 27th of June 2024 in Port Harcourt was attended by members of the community level peace architecture, local government level peace architecture, government agencies, security agencies, civil society organizations, academias, legal institutions and other stakeholders.
While presenting a welcome remark and the terms of reference for members of the SPA, The National Conflict Analyst of SEARCH in West Africa, Andy Nkemneme stated that the SPA is being set up as a group that will enhance the peace building and collaborative efforts of the CRIN-VIN project by responding to issues escalated from the community and local government peace architecture to the state level, in order to facilitate lasting solutions to the conflict issues in Rivers State.
He further stated that the SPA will be tasked with the responsibility of strengthening stakeholders participation in dialogues on conflict resolution in the selected communities, facilitating collaboration and trust between government, security and community stakeholders groups, and to bring community and LGA level issues to the attention of the state actors.
On his part, Regional Head of Office and Head of Program Implementation of SEARCH, Yacinthe Agbagajan stated that the project has employed the setting up of community, local government and state level peace architectures to ensure that all stakeholder and disadvantaged groups are given the chance to participate in dialogues and issues affecting the different communities.
He added that the peace architecture is being set up to ensure the sustainability of the project objectives even after the project duration.
The meeting also featured discussions on the key conflict issues in the state, as a starting point for the activities of the newly inaugurated SPA.
The highlight of the event was the election and swearing in of a 7-man Executive Committee to lead the SPA in its activities.
The executives of the SPA are:
- Mr. Patrick Ndukue - Chairman
- Chief Rose Meebari Michael Zoranen - Co-Chairman
- Chief Samuel Mgbam - Co Secretary
- Ibiso Erekosima Briggs - Secretary
- Dr. Mezewo Obuzo - Organizing Secretary
- Amadi Chimezie - PRO
- Martha Okere - Co-PRO
The CRIN-VIN project which is funded by the European Union is being implemented by Search for Common Ground, in partnership with Stakeholders Democracy Network (SDN), Foundation for Partnerships Initiative in the Niger Delta (PIND), Academic Associates Peace Works (AAPW).
The 18 months long project is being implemented in 60 communities in 33 local government areas in Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers State, to foster inclusive community security approaches to address the systemic drivers of violence and criminality in the focus states.
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