Nathan Tamarapreye, Yenagoa
The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Bayelsa on Wednesday conducted a sensitisation programme to build the capacity of its officers in conflict resolution.
The capacity-building exercise was organised by the NSCDC Command in Bayelsa and the headquarters of the NSCDC in Abuja.
The participants included the eight Divisional Officers as well as the state Peace Desk Officers.
The training is aimed at educating the officers on the best approaches in discharging their responsibilities in tackling the security challenges facing the country.
Declaring open the training, the State Commandant of NSCDC in Bayelsa, Mr Lucy Fakoya urged the participants to avail themselves of the training as it will be beneficial to them.
She said that the training is particularly beneficial during mediation and reconciliation processes.
Fakoya explained that the programme also seeks to achieve federal government targets on key performance indicators which are based on interpersonal conflicts that, if not resolved, could degenerate.
According to her, the participants will also find the training useful for communal and the farmers/herders conflict as well as early warning and response mechanisms.
Fakoya also stated that another essence of the programme is to reawaken the Divisional and Peace and Conflict Resolution Desk Officers, regarded as chief mediators because of their closeness with the locals.
Olayinka Oguntayo of the Peace and Conflict Resolution Department of NSCDC headquarters in Abuja served as a resource person in the capacity-building programme.
He enlightened the participants on the need to embrace the Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanism (ADR) as a tool to mediate among willing parties with a keen interest to give the corps a good image.
He also emphasised the need for the divisional officers to spread the message around their domain due to the fact that the advantage of ADR in conflict resolution.
He noted that ADR saves time, is cheaper and is a win-win situation for all parties.
Oguntayo also educated them on the importance of collaborating with the ministry of justice in the state in order to obtain consent judgement which will enable the agreement reached by the parties after a successful mediation to be binding and enforceable.
The participants commended the gesture extended to them by the Commandant General of NSCDC and promised to put the lessons learnt to work in conflict resolution scenarios.
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