PEACE BY INDUCTION: Sustainable Way of Ending Community based Ethni-Occupational Violence.

Adewumi, Samuel GCPI Founder

PREFACE

This write up was fired up due to GCPI's team empathy towards the recent killings in plateau state, Nigeria. Our compassion knew no bounds, as we continue to advocate without fear that " Nobody had any rights to take law into his own hands, far less to maim and take a fellow human's life".

Talking about violence and extremism in extension, alot of traction has been put towards reactive measures rather than preventive efforts. Our service men are really trying their best to put the insurgencies to an end as expected from any government, meanwhile alot of organizations and youth peace builders are meeting these service men in the middle to put a sustainable end to violent extremism. It is indeed the Africa's secret war as it spreads across the Sub-Haran aiming towards the far Northern sphere, hence a global concern.

At GCPI we are one of the many youth led organization transforming violent extremism. We focus more on preventive measures to vulnerable communities in the South-West Region of Nigeria. This thought write up highlights the most sustainable way ethnicity/Occupational conflicts can be resolved by proximity, what we refer to as INDUCTION.

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Conflict is inevitable, in fact when well managed, it fuels better understanding, unity and peace. On the other hand, unresolved conflict is as a result of disagreeing parties unable to come to a common term, we can relate this to the story of the six blind men who have different views of what an elephant looks like. Each of the men were partly right, however all were in the wrong . Technically, At a point, unresolveable Conflicts could have been prevented, eventually they turn out to become monsters of killer via the anguished parties.

A publication from Search for Common Ground-Search (Slachmuijlder, L. (2017). Transforming Violent Extremism: A peacebuilder’s guide, 1st ed. Washington DC: Search for Common Ground) gave a complete and closed circuit definition of violent extremism, it used empirical and field terms like choice individuals make, support violent, advance a cause, and exclusionary group identities. As a body of young peace builders we can quickly relate to those key terms and our platform is a strong believer of inducing sustainable peace by transforming violence, thereby putting more emphasis on preventive measures through various peace building activities, which are not limited to Peace Education, Education for Peace, Entrepreneurs for Peace, and Peace clubs.

The recent herdmen vs farmers unresolved conflicts and violence in Nigeria (and indeed in states that experience normadic flock grazing amidst farmland areas) is as a result of parties with distinct occupational spaces of different ethnicity not able to reach a common ground. So there have been counter and counter attacks on both side overtime. This is indeed deadly, as we witnessed in recent times. We have highlighted the three sustainable ways to bringing peace in such case scenario and it is transferable to other forms of ethnicity conflicts, occupational violence, and violent extremism.

2.0 PEACE BY INDUCTION

According to GCPI, induction means various ways peace can be induced in underserved and vulnerable communities by proximity, I.e without waiting for conflicts to become violence. When you rub a pen case rigorously through your hair, it picks tiny pieces of papers at close range. This happened because the paper got magnetized to the case by induction, technically the case had not attracted the paper piece. However for such attraction to occur the case must go through rigorous effort passing through the hair to pick the appropriate charges.

Similarly, peace by induction works the same way, in the sense that, some core values need to be structured in conflict proned communities. These values are the benefits given to the minority group by the majority (or vice versa) to let go a conflicting objective, thereby inducing sustainable peace in the short run, through the medium terms and beyond. Conflict becomes unresolved when each the disagreeing party refused to compromise, let go, or reach equitable ends. The drivers are also there to make the conflict coal glows fiercely. The drivers are not limited to lack of inclusiveness, lack of education/information, poverty, unemployment and corrupt leadership. The last three might not necessarily apply to occupational conflicts. peace by induction can be achieved in various ways but we have limited this write-up to just three;

1. Creating a sense of belonging/inclusiveness

2. Community Peace Education

3. Mutual Reworking, redesigning and regards for occupational spaces.

At GCPI, we are achieving positive impacts on the three, in various communities we are positioned, network we belong and educational centres.

2.1 Community Peace Education

Youth transforming violence

Respect is reciprocal. One of the simplest way to induce sustainable peace in conflict prone communities is to encourage mutual respect between old and new residents (Old brooms know the corners, but the new ones sweep better). No matter the identity and ethnicity new members belongs to, the community leaders and influencers should encorage residents to accept one another with respect and Identify with one another. By doing this the existing residents understand the new ones better; who they are, what they love, what they hate, their religion, culture and heritage.

Most of our farmers belonging to our platform in Ekiti, Osun and Ondo states in South-West Nigeria have recorded zero invasion by herdmen on their farms. This is because they have identified themselves and farms with the herdmen grazing their flocks in their community. One farmer even cited having tea break and chat with them on regular basis. Some have even given this minority group lands to make use too. They are giving them a positive body language that they love them and belong to the community. This is self compassion and empathy at its peak.

On the other hand, we have received alerts from farmers in Ikere-Ekiti that their farms were destroyed by grazing cows and after much enquiry, we observed that they had felt it was not important to identify with the perpetrating herdmen. Adversely this made the herdmen feel irrelevant in the community and will always react when they feel the pressure. We advised them on reactive measures however, we informed them on the need to create a workable environment and inclusiveness for the perpetrating herdmen.

2.2 Education for Peace.

According to our operational methods, Education for Peace is the use of the existing education platforms to sensitize the observers of violent times on peace building activities. One of the major drivers of extremism is lack of information and quality education. As a result, more foot soldiers are inducted as peace breachers through manipulation and brainwashing. The way to complement an inclusive community is to give the residents access to quality information and education. This has a ripple effect of engaging the minds of all community residents positively, especially on conflicts, its management and resolution. Educated mindsets have intrinsic early warning receptor, fore-telling and expressing issues faced by them in their communities, cooperate earnestly with service men to restore peace swiftly and providing a safe space for all community members.

Assuming an inclusive environment has been created between farmers and herdmen, their activities can be well coordinated and managed, through series of information interventions. We say those information should emphasize on peace building, conflict management, dialogue, mediation and express safe spaces for both minority and majority groups. Peace Education and peace building activities across educational centres will induce sustainable peace in the short and long run. Also, calling of regular townhall meeting among these groups can be a platform to disseminate vital information, awareness, and advocacy on peace and conflict management.

GCPI has positioned peace clubs and groups in Lagos (Borders and conflict prone areas). For instance, In Lagos where we have established community peace group, Imude town precisely, the community leaders have the best solutions to resolve conflicts among residents. This was possible because we have been educating these leaders on conflict management and resolution. Overall, the government at federal, state and local level should see to provision of quality educational centres for community afflicted or community vulnerable to violence. This efforts will be met in the middle by peace builders and community leaders in cultivating a peaceful environment.

2.3 Mutual Reworking, redesigning and regards for occupational spaces.

When conflicts become violence, the minority group may cause more harm to the majority group as the former are highly mobile and out of reach after they counter attack. So no party is at any advantage when conflict becomes unresolved. Therefore, efforts should be made to define and refine both the herdmen and farmers work space without causing an upset. In doing this the identity of both parties must be of priority to reach a common ground.

Mechanization and modern agricultural practices can be used to achieve this objective. The government and community leaders will have to complement one another in achieving the objective. Also by creating the necessary sense of inclusiveness, and education (training and awareness), it will fuel swifter peaceful agreement and compliance.

INFERENCE

We are at a age where war, violence, and terrorism can be transformed constructively through sports, media, education, technology, and entrepreneurship. Prevention is better than cure, the sustainable way to prevent violent extremism or counter its drivers is to concrete PEACE BY INDUCTION in Nigeria communities. This done, by 2030 and beyond, self compassion, and empathy will drive the major perpetrators of violent to sustainable development. The latter's key pillar is sustainable PEACE.

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