By Providence Ayanfeoluwa

The Dispute and Conflict Resolution, DCR personnel of the Department of Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC and strategic stakeholders have been advised to be sensitive and proactive about conflict situations and core issues in disputes as they may pertain to individuals and communities in Niger Delta.

This was part of a recommendation made in a communiqué at the end of a three-day capacity-building retreat on communal dispute and peaceful resolution for personnel of the department of DCR of the NDDC in Lagos with the theme; ‘Communal Dispute in the Niger Delta Region: The Role of NDDC Staff in Promoting Peaceful Resolution”, facilitated by Peace and Development Projects, PEDEP. 

The communiqué recommended that the DCR personnel should demonstrate a fair understanding and tolerance for diversity along social, ethnic, religious and economic divides in engaging with communities as badly managed biases may undermine otherwise fair intentions and engagement with communities.

Participants at the retreat observed that conflict is a permanent feature of human societies, appropriate and timely response to conflict engenders peace and development by enhancing better understanding of some otherwise complicated issues.

“Although DCR personnel should not only be always proactive but should be accessible in engaging with issues underpinning disputes in the community.

“The DCR should not only endeavor to advocate for fairness and justice as a condition for peace but be committed to stakeholder mapping that must be done periodically for purposes of SWOT analysis to unlock potential benefits as much as challenges and for timely conflict management and to deescalate disputes that may lead to violence. 

“The DCR in partnership with the corporate communications department of NDDC should collaborate with media experts and strategic NGOs to sustain public awareness and promote accurate narratives about the NDDC and the situation in the Niger Delta,” among others.

In his remark, the Managing Director of NDDC who was represented by the Special Assistant Legal, Mr. Ochu Chukwuma, urged personnel of the DCR and the strategic NDDC staff at the retreat to make effective use of additional knowledge and skills acquired to consolidate the peace process across communities in the Niger Delta region.  

Also, Acting Director, Goddy Ayewumi, restated the commitment of NDDC personnel to promoting communal harmony and peaceful coexistence across the communities in the Niger Delta.

Ayewumi described the retreat as a demonstration of the commitment of the leadership of the current Managing Director to sustain the existing peace and stability in the Niger Delta region which is an important precondition for development.

Director of PEDEP, Francis Abayomi, said requisite knowledge and skills were imperative for personnel; charged with the responsibilities of implementing in intervention mandate of the NDDC. He commended the commission for prioritizing capacity building for personnel of the DCR which elaborately speaks to the proactiveness of the current leadership of the NDDC.