By PAMELA EBOH, Awka

The Executive Director. Foundation For Environmental Rights, Advocacy & Development (FENRAD), Abia State, Comrade Nelson Nnanna Nwafor, has been elected Southeast Regional coordinator of West Africa Network on Peace (WANEP).

Nwafor polled five votes out of the nine accredited voters to win his opponent, Pastor Frank Akumacwho, scored four votes.

WANEP, a network of peace building civil society organizations with structural presence in all the countries of ECOWAS, including Cameroun and Chad is seeking to build collaborative relationship among peacebuilding organizations towards conflict prevention and resolution.

Its credibility and commitment to peace and stability in West Africa has been recognized by ECOWAS through the appointment of WANEP as the civil society representative at the ECOWAS secretariat.

The network has also played the response role to the growing pathologic civil based violence and war in West Africa caused by mismanaged socio-political structures and systems, with its niche built on its ability to facilitate a platform for concerted structural and social reforms amongst societies in West Africa sub region.

It also works towards achieving its objectives through streamlined thematic programs which include, the Women in Peace building, the Non Violence and Peace Education, Research and Documentation, Democracy and Good Governance, as well as the Early Warning and Preventive Peacebuilding.

WANEP mode of operation in its Nigeria structure is through the six geo-political zones, an ownership process among zonal network groups and also encouraging the local generation of intervention strategies to peculiar conflicts within the zone

In his handover speech, Chibundu Uchegbu thanked all the participants and voters and encouraged them to uphold the tenets of the organisation.

In his acceptance speech, the new South East WANEP coordinator, Comrade Nwafor commended the spirit exhibited in the exercise, promising to work with everyone and be open to listen to advice in order to take the network to a greater height.

He appealed to the BoT Representative, Mrs. Margret Nwagbuo, to keep playing the motherly role she played during the time of his predecessor for the growth of the network.

He further thanked and congratulated the outgone zonal coordinator, Chibundu Uchegbu, for the strength and dedication he has put to the network, and pledged to uphold them.

Nwafor is expected to run the affairs of the Network in the Southeast Zone for the next two years.

Before his new position, Nwafor wasengaged in Community Development, community social mobilization activities, policy analysis/Advocacy and Human Rights work for more than twenty years, focusing on various aspects of Community development, conflict resolution & mitigation, Peace building, policy Intervention, Human Rights & social justice.

He is a B.sc holder in Accountancy and Public Administration with Msc in Peace building and conflict resolution. He is an Environmental & Human Rights Advocate, Conflict resolution Expert and Peace Ambassador.

Nwafor is presently pursuing his Bachelor of Law degree.