Peace-building: Borno govt trains 100 peace ambassadors
Borno Government with support from the British Council has inducted 100 Youths Peace Ambassadors to contribute to the restoration of normancy as the state recovers from over 10 years of insurgency.
Prof. Usman Tar, the state Commissioner for Information and Internal Security conducted the induction ceremony on Saturday in Maiduguri.
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Tar explained that the youths were trained by the state government in partnership with Peace Ambassador Centre for Humanitarian Aid and Empowerment (PACHE), a Non Governmental organization (NGO), with support from the British Council.
He said the idea was for the trained ambassadors to contribute toward peace building and development in line with the ‘Borno Model’ designed to promote reconciliations.
The Commissioner charged the youths to, not only take the lead in peace-building and conflict management issues but also learn how to preach tolerance,irrespective of their religious or tribal affiliations.
“Today, we are inaugurating the young peace ambassadors that will be going into the society, trickling down the capacity of peace-building and tolerance that we have taught them.
“The outcome of this exercise is that we now have critical young minds that will serve as ambassadors of peace, go out and target specific communities as well as teach the art of peace and conflict resolution.
” Other areas were on conflict management, peace-building, and diplomacy so that the society will be more tolerant, more engaging and above all will learn to live side by side with people of all faiths,” he said.
Earlier, the Founder of PACHE, Malam Ahmed Shehu, urged communities in the state to identify with youths by giving them the necessary support for maximum results.
“As a civil society, we thought we have to play our role towards ensuring we have a stable society.
“We carefully selected young people and voices across all sectors, from the media, CSOs and academia and trained them go back to the communities and change the narratives,” Shehu said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that highlights of the occasion was the presentation of the Peace Advocate Award to some people and organizations in Borno for their contributions to peace building.
