ABUJA – The United Nations (UN) Resident Coordinator in Nigeria, on Saturday hinged the sustainability of peace, stability and development on peace, education, intercultural and interfaith dialogue.
Toure told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that education would promote positive value reorientation and behavioural change.
According to him, the UN in Nigeria is responding to the contemporary challenges in the country, especially in the North-East through multiple approaches and programmes.
He said that UN had commenced the implementation of the third UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF III) with strong focus on social capital development and response to human security and risk management.
“We are working closely with government partners and have developed a UN Integrated Support Package (ISP) for the North-East and the Chibok girls.
“We believe this will contribute in no small measure to addressing the root causes of development challenges, ensure sustainable peace built on economic, social security, human rights and dialogue,’’ he said.
Toure said the UN system in Nigeria through its specialised agencies, such as United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisations (UNESCO) had organised capacity building sessions on peace building.
“We have realigned our programmes to support Nigerian government to pursue aggressive policies on job creation, particularly for the women and youths to promote inclusive growth and ensure sustainable development.
“Recently, the UN in partnership with the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR) organised a National Inter-Faith Dialogue on Conflict Prevention and Peace-making.
“This is part of efforts at addressing violent conflicts and extremism in the country,’’ he said.
He said that efforts were ongoing by the UN in collaboration with the government to convene another national inter-faith dialogue.
He urged the government to focus more on youth empowerment, so as to arrest youth restiveness.
“We must do more work on the de-radicalisation of the young people in this country.
“And to do this, the country must create more employment opportunities, encourage their active and meaningful participation in the political process,’’ he said. (NAN)
