Gana preaches peace, resolves community disputes

Gana Muhammadu

The Commandant General of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps Abdullahi Gana Muhammadu has charged officers and men of the Corps to be more proactive in peace building and conflict prevention and resolution.

He made this known at the opening ceremony of workshop on the significance of conflict prevention, peace building and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) on peaceful co-existence for the NSCDC Commandants of the Corps in Abuja.

The NSCDC boss warns Commandants on rivalry with other sister agencies of government by saying that, ''all of us are partners in the business of National Security, Nation building and development, therefore, there is no need for unhealthy competition and rivalry''. He vowed to deal with any State Commandant of the Corps that engages in any rivalry or fight with other security agencies vis-a-viz members of the public whose tax the Government is using to pay the salary of personnel without applying the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) and peace advocacy mechanism.

Gana stressed that as the leader of the Corps, he had resolved to work with other security agencies in harmony "so as to achieve the core mandate of the Corps, in the area of protection of Critical Infrastructure and National Assets as well as securing of lives and properties, as the "defender of the defenceless.”

Addressing the Officers and Men of the Corps on this Four-day workshop, the CG reminded the personnel that they are being paid by the same government and from the same purse to protect lives and properties of the citizenry therefore, there is no need for rivalry.  He advice officers and men of the Corps to show peace and love in the face of all provocations using all the good lessons they have learnt from this workshop.

The CG extolled the virtues of the founding fathers and most especially the immediate past CG Dr. Ade Abolurin who laid the very solid foundation of peace, love and patriotism for the Corps. He also commended the Federal Government of Nigeria for paying attention to the needs of the Corps and UNDP as dependable ally to NSCDC.

 In appreciation to the Commandant General and all the good works the NSCDC is doing in the country, Mr Mandisa Mashologu, the Country Director of United Nation Development Programme disclosed that NSCDC had resolved 12,000 Community Disputes in Nigeria in 2016.  He acknowledged the excellent work that NSCDC is doing in addressing community-level dispute grievance.

 Mashologu called for the building of capacity of stakeholders like the NSCDC to mediate in disputes, alternative resolutions and prevention of conflicts from escalating, especially in remote areas of Nigeria.

The Four-day workshop organised by the NSCDC, UNDP and the initiative of Peace and Conflict Resolution (PCR) is meant to strengthen the capacity of NSCDC official in Peace and Conflict Resolution.