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YENAGOA – The Commander 16 Brigade of the Nigerian Army and Sector 2 Joint Task Force South-South Operation Delta Safe, Brigadier Gen, Nurul Mohammed, has revealed that the civil-military relationship is key to sustainable peace in Bayelsa state and the Niger Delta region.
He reiterated that peace can only be achieved with mutual collaboration with stakeholders as it remains a potent prerequisite for accelerated development.
The Commander made his position known on Wednesday when he hosted members of the foremost Peace Architecture at the command’s headquarters in Elebele community, of Bayelsa State.
He expressed the command’s willingness to use non kinetic approach to solving conflicts and work all round the clock for a sustainable peace in the oil rich state.
He also lauded the operations of the Bayelsa State Peace Architecture on her role in championing peace building, conflict mediation and intervention in communities in Bayelsa State.
Presenting the peace architecture civil- military charter to the commander and officers of the command, Secretary of the Bayelsa State Peace Architecture SPA, Dr Inebaraton Preye, emphasized the collaboration with the Military command to encourage Civil military town hall meetings, joint conflict prevention and intervention.
The Secretary who spoke on behalf of the Executive Chairman and Commissioner for Community Development, Hon Alfred Watson Belemote, pointed out that the coalition of peace agents under the umbrella of the SPA is determined to work continuously with major security stakeholders using non kinetic approach to tackle the issues of community peace and development by encouraging dialogue, mediation and peace building using the bottom-top mechanism.
Dr Inebaraton Preye noted that Between July 2023 and July 2026, the Bayelsa State Peace Architecture, working with government, traditional institutions, CSOs and security agencies, has focused on prevention rather than reaction with a trajectory of sustainable peace evidence in conflict Mediation and Resolution of 87 reported community conflicts across the 8 LGAs before escalation to violence, deployment of 400 trained Early Warning and Early Response community peace monitors to encourage preventive interventions within 48 hours, averting potential breakdowns of law and order, training and retraining of 512 stakeholders for Capacity Building including 184 traditional rulers and chiefs, security personnel,156 youth leaders, 98 women leaders, and 74 LGA security desk officers on conflict analysis, dialogue, and non-violent dispute resolution. Town hall engagements, meetings and peace outreaches in flashpoint communities, directly reaching over 18,500 citizens with over 1,321 cases intervened in the past 30 months.
He also noted that when communities are engaged early, violence can be prevented by creating the atmosphere where arms compliment the peace efforts as needed as he highlighted the move for building lasting peace infrastructure including the establishment of the Bayelsa State Community Peace Commission.
