Calls for more protection, intervention by actors

By Gabriel Ewepu – Abuja

A humanitarian and nonprofit making organization, Center for Civilians in Conflict, CIVIC, working in the insurgency riddled North-East geopolitical region, portrayed victims and survivors’ situation with photo exhibition.

The Country Director, CIVIC Nigeria, Tunde Ojei, in his chat with Vanguard, explained why it became necessary for the organization to come up with the photo exhibition titled ‘Through the Lens: A Decade of Conflict, Adapting and Rebuilding’ sponsored by UK Department for International Development, DIFID, said it is to showcase realities in the North East, particularly the three areas where this particular project is being implemented in Konduga, Maiduguri Metropolitan Council, MMC, and Jere Local Government Areas of Borno State.

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Ojei further stated that it has a primary assignment of promoting and protecting civilians caught in conflict, hence work with armed actors and civilians in conflict to develop and implement solutions to prevent, mitigate, and respond to civilian harm.

According to him CIVIC work in Nigeria began in 2015 and focuses on the improvement of civilian protection policies, programmes, and practices.

He said: “The pictures today is really to showcase realities in the North East, particularly the three areas where this particular project is being implemented in Koduga, Maiduguri Metropolitan Council, MMC, and Jere.

“It is really photography that brings to Abuja how people have begun to build, adapt, and how people are coping with the situation they found themselves, especially from a protection point of view, because we are a protection organization.

“The counterinsurgency in North-East Nigeria has lasted for a decade. In that time many attempts through government action and humanitarian actors have sought to address the endemic humanitarian crisis that has placed over 2.5 million people in the Lake Chad region with 10.7 million people requiring humanitarian assistance.

Civilians have suffered the brunt of the conflict with many reports of human rights abuses in the form of arbitrary detention, sexual exploitation and violence, torture and extra judicious kills.”

“We have seen a resilient people who have developed varying coping mechanisms to deal with this new reality, as they know it. This photo exhibition captures those everyday realities of civilians, community militias and security forces in Maiduguri Metropolitan Council, Jere and Konduga Local government Areas of Borno State, where CIVIC is implementing this project.

“It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words, we hope that this exhibition serves as a call to action, for us stakeholders to do more in supporting vulnerable communities and the protection of civilians caught in conflict spaces.”

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However, speaking on his assessment of the current situation in the North East, he said, “The assessment is that things are on track but they are not moving fast enough and there is a need for all actors to put hands together to actually protect civilians more.

“We as an organization our priority is the protection of civilians and we do so by engaging with actors in conflict and in this case with the community, security forces and military to ensure that their operation is done in a way that it does not bring harm to civilians.

“So we engage to develop and implement solutions that actually prevent, mitigates and respond to harm in civilians in conflict.

In the area of intervention that he expects from the government, the CIVIC boss said, “The first and foremost area I will desire intervention is for the Federal Government to adopt a protection civilian policy.

“The policy when adopted will be the first of its kind in Africa. It provides for a platform or framework for every protection actor to actually strengthen their roles within the protection of civilians, and to also ensure everybody does what they supposed to do and put civilians in the heart of their operations.

“The policy is not completely new it is bringing together some of the best practices currently in the North East, and some of the practices that have been tested in other climes that would actually strengthen the protection of civilians. It is about creating that awareness and a deeper sense of responsibility for people to actually take those actions.”

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Meanwhile, he commended the federal government for the Ministry of Disaster Management and Welfare and expressed optimism that, “I think creating such Ministry as Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, at this point in time is very good because it is sort of shows the intent of the government to prioritize what is going on in the North East and other areas of the country.

“The Ministry has taken the first step of bringing humanitarian actors, development partners, and the security forces together in a recent workshop that was held in Maiduguri, and we feel that that was a step in the right direction.

“But then what is need now is to actually take forward of the communique of the action point of that engagement because more and more people need to be protected and we need to act now.”

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