PIND seeks collaboration with states to promote peace in Niger Delta

The Foundation for Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND) has asked state governments in the region to adopt its Partners for Peace (P4P) model to ensure stability in the region.

The P4P model mobilises a network of grassroots volunteers to different communities to prevent conflict and promote peace building in the Niger Delta.

Speaking on how the model was initiated, Nkasi Wodu, programme manager of P4P, in a statement, said the model was established in 2013 to keep the level of violence in Niger Delta communities to the lowest limit.

Wodu noted that the network has recruited and trained 10,000 peace actors from various communities in the nine Niger Delta states to address conflict and restore peace in their various communities.

“The P4P model, which is rooted in the social network theory, is effective in peacebuilding and conflict mitigation in the Niger Delta,” he said.

“The P4P network model is accepted because it is indigenous to the people.”

Wodu noted that the peace actors receive early warning signs and go into the communities to broker peace with people involved in conflicts.

“P4P members were able to take actions that addressed potential sources of conflict before it reached a point where the parties involved see violence as their only recourse,” he added.

“In other instances, where conflict is already in existence, the P4P actors helped conflicting parties to find a peaceful solution to their disagreement using informal alternative dispute resolution mechanisms such as negotiation, arbitration, mediation, and diplomacy.”