Anambra Market Crisis: Stakeholders Ask Soludo To Caution Obi, His Cohorts

Southeast Violence: Group Advises Soludo On A Route Out

by Echezona obinna
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Concerned by the development of violence in the Southeast, particularly in Anambra State, a conflict resolution organization affiliated with Nextier SPD has encouraged Governor Chukwuma Soludo to consider a non-conflict intervention plan to bring peace to the state.

Remember that there has been an increase in violence in Southeast, and Anambra has had its fair part of the bad event.

Prof. Soludo, the state governor, has taken many measures, including a kinetic approach, to restore peace since taking over the administration of the state.

However, Nextier SPD has recommended that the state government should partner with the private sector to commence human capacity development programmes.

It also told the governor that his projects tagged, ‘Choose-your-Project initiative’ should be upgraded not just to deliver one-stop projects to communities.

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The recommendations to the Anambra State governor were made through Dr. Chukwuma Okoli, an Associate Consultant at Nextier SPD and lecturer, Department of Political Science, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria; and Dr. Ndu Nwokolo, the Managing Partner and Chief Executive at Nextier SPD and an Honorary Fellow, School of Government and Society, University of Birmingham, UK),
Some of their recommendations are that:
“The state government should partner with the private sector and development agencies in establishing a dashboard that monitors peace and security progress in the state.

“The state government should sustain its efforts to upgrade infrastructure in the state by rehabilitating roads and street lights.

“The State government to deepen collaboration with other states in the South-East in the conceptualisation and implementation of programmes targeted at addressing the rising violence in the region.”

The experts contended that the the rise in violent incidents across the Southeast and Anambra State calls for concerted efforts to scale up the state’s non-conflict interventions (NCIs).

Their interventions came on the heels of the rise in violent incidents and deaths arising from non-state armed groups (NSAGs) activities in the Southeast and Anambra State.

2023: South East Professionals Back Peter Obi

According to them, Data from the Nextier SPD Violent Conflict Database shows that there were 255 deaths and 157 incidents of violence involving non-state armed groups (NSAGs) between January and May 2022.

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They further said that Anambra State accounted for 37 per cent of violent incidents and 41 per cent of deaths in the Southeast during the period under review.

Prof. Soludo has demonstrated efforts to stem the tide through kinetic interventions such as destroying criminal hideouts, launching the Anambra State Security Trust Fund (ASSTF), etc.

In addition, efforts were made to boost security agencies’ operational effectiveness by implementing curfews in some locations within the state.

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However, while these kinetic interventions have yielded results, they tend to suppress the conflicts without necessarily addressing their root causes.

But the experts argued that, “Kinetic interventions create imaginaries of the state government as a violent party in the conflict. This has implications for de-escalating the conflict and peacebuilding in the state. Thus, the government needs to do more in non-conflict interventions (NCIs) to win people’s support and attract the NSAGs to the negotiation table for sustainable peacebuilding.”

They said, Nextier SPD in its Policy Weekly examined the travails of deploying NCIs in Anambra State and offers actionable strategies for deepening NCIs for effective peacebuilding in the State.

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They submitted that the Soludo-led administration has adopted various NCIs to address the growing violence and insecurity in the state.

First, the administration offered amnesty to the NSAGs and promised to rehabilitate and offer skill acquisition training to those willing to surrender.

But they said, “Unfortunately, the amnesty offer is yet to be accepted by the NSAGs and other agitators targeted by the peace deal mainly because the group considers themselves more as people fighting against the marginalisation of the South-East and not criminals that should be offered amnesty.

“The governor’s appeal for an end to the sit-at-home through prayer sessions in churches across the state was resisted by NSAGs.

2023: South East Professionals Back Peter Obi

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“At St. Joseph Catholic Cathedral in Ekwulobia, Aguata Local Government Area, where the governor participated in the prayer session and charged the people to embrace peace, to show rejection of the attempt to end the sit-at-home, gunmen visited the church at night.

“They shot sporadically in front of the church all through the night, leading to the death of at least one security guard due to gunshot injuries.

“Additionally, the administration set up the Anambra State Truth, Justice and Peace (TJP) Committee to make recommendations for sustainable peace and security in Anambra State and the broader Southeast region.

“While the report of the TJP Committee is being awaited, a recent study by Nexter SPD revealed some perceived threats to the TJP. The proposed amnesty to members of the NSAGs is the possibility of apathy of other critical stakeholders, such as other Southeast governors, in accepting or implementing the recommendations of the TJP Committee.

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There is also the fear that victims of violence perpetrated by NSAGs may not accept the reintegration of the repentant perpetrators into their communities.

“Furthermore, the current Soludo-led administration has opened up windows to resume the community Choose-your-Project initiative in which projects worth ₦25 million will be implemented in beneficiary communities.

“The community Choose-your-Project is being deployed as a bottom-up approach for improving infrastructures and providing social services and employment at the grassroots level.

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“In this regard, the initiative, if properly implemented, has the potential for de-escalating violent conflicts, given that it can win the hearts and minds of the people and serve as a disincentive to some persons who participate in violent conflicts or provide tacit support to the NSAGs because of issues relating to their unemployment, poverty and dissatisfaction with the level of development in the state.”

 

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