By MUHYIDEEN JIMOH

?Dr. Abiodun Essiet, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Community Engagement (North-Central), says nearly 70 per cent of insecurity in the region can be addressed through non-kinetic, community-based strategies.

??She made this known at a capacity-building training for stakeholders across the North-Central, held Tuesday at the State House, Abuja.

??“From our analysis, nearly 70 per cent of the security challenges in the North Central can be addressed through dialogue, reconciliation, intelligence sharing, and community engagement, rather than through force alone,” she said.

??Essiet highlighted how the June 5 launch of the Presidential Community Engagement Peace Initiative (PCEPI) in Jos, Plateau, is already yielding results.

??”That historic event was a significant step in our collective journey toward fostering unity, strengthening social cohesion, and empowering communities to take ownership of their peace processes.”

??She said her office is working with the International Communities Organization (ICO) on a peace initiative aligned with Nigeria’s UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR) commitments.

??The project is titled: “Promoting Community Peace and Strengthening Social Cohesion in North Central Nigeria.”

??Essiet explained that a grassroots network is being developed to ensure every local government is included.

??“At the heart of this initiative is the establishment of a peace structure that will cut across all the 110 local government areas in the North Central region.

??“This structure will not just exist in name; it will be an active platform, focusing on gathering and sharing intelligence, facilitating continuous dialogue, and helping us identify underlying issues and root causes of conflict

??”Ultimately, this peace structure will serve as the backbone of sustainable peace building in our region,” she noted.

??She stressed that resolving local disputes early remained critical to the region’s long-term peace.

??“Once we succeed in resolving internal communal conflicts and addressing the root causes of tension, we will already be halfway to overcoming insecurity in the North Central, while armed criminality remains for security agencies.

??“This training is not just about acquiring knowledge; it is about forging partnerships, building trust, and developing strategies that will directly impact our communities,” Essiet added.

??Stakeholders identified forests and porous borders as major pressure points fueling insecurity in the North-Central.

??Amb. Joshua Osatimehin Wole, Commandant-General of the Nigerian Forest Security Service (NFSS) revealed that Nigeria has 1,129 forest reserves, with 174 in the North-Central alone.

??He called for stronger inter-agency collaboration and enhanced forest security, especially in Niger, Kwara and Benue.

??“For sustainable peace in our communities, all our forested regions must be well coordinated and preserved. We need to protect the forests,” he said.

??“We must create additional security agencies to conduct continuous security surveillance.

“Three states border international frontiers—Niger, Kwara and Benue, and they are the epicentres of insecurity.

“There should be inter-agency cooperation and effective control of our forests.”

??Kole Shettima, Director at the MacArthur Foundation, emphasized that stability remained fundamental to development.

??“Unless there is peace, you cannot do what you want to do. Peace is essential and paramount,” he said.

??He also urged the National Assembly to strengthen traditional institutions and learn from indigenous conflict-resolution models.

??Project Coordinator Jacob Alagbe said the programme brought state-level actors together to craft state-specific action plans that promoted peace and social harmony.

??The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports the training included sessions on conflict dynamics, intelligence gathering, community engagement, and peace building strategies. (NAN)