At least 390 youths from different parts of Rivers state have been trained on how to manage conflict and engage in non-adversarial means for peace and sustainable development.
The training was organised by the foundation for Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND) and supported by the European Union (EU).
Speaking during the two-day training held in Port Harcourt, the state capital on Tuesday, David Udofia, peacebuilding programme manager at the PIND foundation, said the workshop was crucial for youths to have an understanding of how they can address issues of concerns without necessarily adopting the violent approach.
He said the training was organised to enhance the capacity of the participants to change their mindsets and manage disagreement and misunderstanding without resorting to violence.
“We want youths to have a deeper view and understanding of how they can address issues of concerns without necessarily adopting the violent approach,” Udofia said.
“In other words, we are trying to enhance the capacity of our youths to change their mindsets for them to see the need to manage misunderstanding which is conflict, disagreement without necessarily resorting to violence.
“It starts with them having an understanding of conflict and also having the view that people think differently and that has to do with the idea of perception because the way some people perceive issues are not the same.
“So, it’s good to broaden their horizon in terms of understanding issues so that they can respond appropriately for peace to reign within our communities because most of the time their actions are being influenced by what I say as their perceived views and this perception is also influenced by the level of information that is available.
“And that has to do with the view of youths trying to investigate and interrogate sources of information so that they are not misinformed and do what is detrimental to society.”
The PIND peace building manager added that the youths who attended the training have demonstrated that their capacity has been enhanced to handle conflict.
“The greatest part is that youths have shown their understanding of conflict after this training that it has positive sides because it leads to deeper understanding,” he said.
“So what it entails is that getting back to their communities, they are going to apply it and some of them have the views that issues that used to make them angry, that might take them to the level of resorting to violence, that with this knowledge, they will look to engage the other party in a more positive ways so that they can get positive outcomes.
“They already have the understanding of the negative impacts of violence; it disrupts development in a community and the resources even at the government level that would have been used for high infrastructural development would be diverted to manage conflict when it erupts.
“There are various conflicts of various dimensions in the Niger Delta. It still goes back to the fact that we really need to understand the concept of conflict; that it is a disagreement, a misunderstanding. What we need to do in order to prevent it from escalating to violence, its reaction, perception, how do we respond to disagreed views so that it will not lead to violence.
“So, youths within the Niger Delta need to be engaged more on this. There is a need for us to constantly engage the youths for them to have a broader perspective of their actions and how it can affect them negatively when it is not well managed.
“The reason we really want to have youths to embrace peace is that without peace there can be no development.
So, when they embrace peace, most of their expectations will be met. Let them embrace peace so that sustainable development can take place within the region.
“Sustainable peace and sustainable development are related. It doesn’t mean that there would be no conflict. What it entails is that people within that community have what it takes to manage conflict when it erupts so that it will not escalate to violence.”
