The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Ondo State Command, has established 25 Grievances Management Centres (GMC) in all its formations to resolve conflicts in the state.
The State’s Commandant, Dr Hammed Abodunrin, made the disclosure at the opening of a one-day training workshop for divisional officers in the state on Tuesday in Akure.
The training, which was organized in collaboration with the Partners for Peace (P4P) in the Niger Delta, an NGO, had as its theme: “Building Resilience In The Agitated World’’.
Abodunrin said that the NSCDC was committed to tackling the challenges of conflict headlong, particularly the issues of violence in Nigeria.
He said that GMC was established to address grievances before they manifest.
The commandant charged the divisional officers not to wait in their various divisional offices for people to bring complaints to them, but rather they should go out and investigate to establish the causes of grievances.
“It has become imperative for all divisional officers of NSCDC to tackle the conflicts when it has not manifested at all, because we discovered that many grievances that are reported are not properly attended to.
“We want to see a situation where we can really address grievances before it manifests or even, when it has. We should find ways we can really calm people down and make sure that justice is done.
“The country today is witnessing a lot of challenges in the area of living together harmoniously even within families.
“There is global conflict whereby people do not agree with each other on so many issues. There is nothing wrong with conflict, in fact conflict could be good, but our responses to conflicts are the issues we have.
“So, we should be able to respond to issues concerning security, peace and conflict in our society to ensure that we live in a society where people are not at war constantly, “he said.
He, therefore, advised the divisional officers to be wary of making promises on issues any community may be agitating for, but rather ensure that peace reign in their host communities.
According to Abodunrin, the Institute for Economy and Peace (IEP) conducted a research in 2018, and out of 200 countries surveyed, only four were judged to be peaceful.
The commandant appreciated the Commandant General of the NSCDC, Abubakr Audi, for his commitment to training and retraining of personnel in order for the corps to remain relevant in the society.
Speaking on the collaboration, Abodunrin said that more stakeholders would be brought into the security fold to make society peaceful and more habitable across the state.
Abodunrin, who appreciated the P4P for the collaboration, said nothing could be done if society was not peaceful.
Also, National Coordinator of P4P, Chief Pius Alomolafe, said that the collaboration was to ensure peace in the state and Nigeria at large
He said that when a nation was at peace, development was achievable faster.
“In Nigeria today, there is agitation of different things or the other, including security, educational and economic issues, where everybody is angry.
“So, we want to use this opportunity to sensitize and create awareness to calm people down and if there is no peace, there will be no development,” Alomolafe said.
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