Sfcg commences 2nd phase of Deepening Peace in Niger Delta Project

By Brave Dickson

Search for Common Ground (Sfcg) has commenced the 2nd phase of its peace building project known as Deepening Peace in the Niger Delta.

At its 1st Peace Architecture Dialogue meeting held in Port Harcourt which signifies the full commencement of the 2nd phase project, discussants drawn from critical sectors of the nation’s economy proffered ways on how to achieve the sustainable peace objective of Sfcg in the state and region.

Speaking with our correspondent at the end of the PAD meeting, the State Coordinator of Sfcg, Mr Cosmos Dinee said: “This is part of our regular monthly Peace Architecture Dialogue meetings. A meeting that holds every month. We had this brief break because of the change in project phases.

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“We ended the 1st phase on the 30th of September, 2019. However, we could not feature an edition in the month of October because of planning but now we have taken off effectively.

“This is the first meeting of the peace architecture dialogue for the 2nd phase project in Rivers State.

“It provided us with the opportunity to come together to look at the blueprint of where we are heading to, in this new one year of implementation of this project.

“And we believe that the platform is going to do much more than it did in the 1st phase. So, we will be doing a lot of implementation activities beyond just meeting.”

Speaking on the topic: Emerging Conflict Situation in the State, a security expert and lecturer at the University of Port Harcourt, Dr Steve Wordu said: “It is important to use conflict trend analysis to plan ahead of election and festive periods because these are seasons of more violent conflicts in the state and Niger Delta.”

While x-raying on the topic: Peace and Security Update of the State, a Chief Superintendent of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), CSC Lezuya Solomon said: “Now that the nation’s elections are over, some of these thugs that have been armed by politicians will start trading crimes in some parts of the region but we will stop them.”

The NSCDC chief also appealed to Sfcg to always help in giving useful advice that will help security agencies to mitigate crime and criminality.

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Delivering on the topic: The Role of the Media in the New Phase, the chairman, Common Ground Journalists, Mr Bemene Tanen said: “We will make sure that we use the media especially through talk show, jingle, billboard news bulletin and others to spread the peace building approach of Sfcg across the state.”

Earlier in his Opening Remarks, the chairman of PAD and Deputy National Secretary of Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), Hon., Ken Robinson who was represented by Princess Lovinah Enyekit reiterated PANDEF’s resolve to always support Sfcg and thank the international peace building NGO for the good works it’s doing in the region.

While fielding some salient questions raised by participants at the meeting, the state Project Manager of Sfcg, Mr Cletus Ilugo also attributed the huge success recorded in the 1st phase of the project to the positive inputs of its participants.

Mr Ilugo hinted that the funder of the project (the German Corporation) was quite happy with the achievement and without delay approved the commencement of the 2nd phase project.