Since the drivers of conflict and disaster are multidimensional ditto their implications, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), a non-governmental organisation has unveiled a ‘Policy Brief’ to address Early Warning and Early Response System to conflict and disaster .
Newsconnect reports that CISLAC unveiled this policy brief in Lagos at a press briefing before Journalists to wake the consciousness of Public and Policy makers.
The preface of the unveiled Policy brief posited that there is a nexus between conflict, disaster and humanitarian crises. It says the conflict and security situations in Nigeria however seems to have a geo-political dimension.
Excerpt from the CISLAC Policy brief on Early Warning and Early Response reads:
“The North-East is grappling with the challenge of terrorism. The North Central is battling with pastoralist-farmers crises. The South-east with Seccesionist agitations and emergence of East African Security Network (ESN) and indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), the North West is grappling with the threats of Banditry, Niger-delta with the challenge of militancy and the South West grappling with the challenge of kidnappings and ritual killings”.
The Program Manager of CISLAC Jimoh Abubakar in an interview with Newsconnect at the press briefing said;
“Early warning, early response become very paramount to ensure community is integrated in reporting system and structure and appropriate response is instituted from response institutions.
“Response institutions include Nigeria Air force, Nigeria Army, NSCDC, DSS and relevant agencies in this regard.
“Under the project we have been working with communities, traditional rulers, religious leaders, and response institutions.
“We work with media and civil society to ensure we sensitise the community to raise their consciousness against threat. Because lack of conflict and sensitivity at community level gave rise to a lot of conflict that happened across the country.
“Some conflicts could be averted. For the fact that the community is not sensitive enough to identify potential signal or that of the challenges or the threat, conflict can be escalated and consumed many of the communities.
“So what we are doing here is to raise public and policy consciousness. Policy consciousness is making the decision makersnyi be aware. While public consciousness is you and I, community, traditional rulers, religious leaders.
“Even in terms of religious teaches. What do you teach in the mosques, what do you teach in the Church, do you preach peace or you are preaching war?
“It is high time we begin to look into that.
“Also in terms of media reportage as well, what are we reporting. Are we reporting to just break the news, or we are reporting for peace?
“So whatever you report, people read and respond accordingly.
“We also need to know what we report, that is our fundamental objectives in this regard.
“The press briefing was organised by CISLAC to unveil the policy brief. The policy brief itself is a comprehensive document that open observations into the challenges surrounding early warning and early response in Nigeria.
“It also provides wholistic recommendations around the issues. So what are we doing fundamentally as media? How can we begin to set agenda around key observations and recommendation contained in the policy ?.
“The agenda setting can be triggered, provoked through adequate scrutiny of that policy, document to see what we can take out of that, what can we focus as a point. We have a lot of challenge in Nigeria when it comes to early warning, early response.
“We can’t do it alone as civil Society, we have to ensure we leverage the media as our partners to cascade the the advocacy as public and policy level, that is the fundamental thing we are unveiling”. Jimoh concluded