As part of its ongoing efforts to equip peacebuilders and stakeholders with essential skills to monitor and respond to conflicts, Search for Common Ground (SFCG) recently organized a two-day training on Early Warning and Early Response (EWER) systems. The training, held on October 17 and 18, 2024, at Villa Grande Hotel in Jos, Plateau State, brought together community leaders, security personnel, and local stakeholders to reinforce conflict prevention mechanisms.
The event was part of SFCG’s initiative to enhance community participation in conflict resolution, focusing particularly on preventing religiously motivated violence and other forms of conflict that have plagued Plateau State and other regions in Nigeria.
Addressing Religiously Motivated Conflicts in Nigeria
Williams Ubimago, Project Manager for SFCG’s Inclusive Religious Engagement in Nigeria Enhanced by Women (IRENEW) Project, emphasized the importance of the training in mitigating religious violence, a major issue in contemporary Nigeria. He pointed out recent incidents, such as the killing of Deborah Usman Bawa and the religious violence in Bauchi State, as examples of why the project is crucial.
“The reason we are focused on early warning and early response is to ensure that community stakeholders, institutions, and agencies can better respond to reports of religiously motivated violence across different states,” Ubimago explained. He added that the training is part of a larger effort funded through several projects, including the Protecting and Preventing Freedom of Religion and Belief (PPFORB) initiative, which operates nationwide.
Plateau State, with its history of ethnic and religious conflicts, has been a focus of the training. Ubimago pointed out that recent attacks in Bokkos and other areas have underscored the need for timely interventions to prevent violence. “This state has been a flashpoint for conflicts, especially around religious lines. We aim to increase community participation in early warning and early response mechanisms to mitigate conflicts in vulnerable areas such as Mangu, Bokkos, and Barkin Ladi,” he said.
Strengthening Community-Security Cooperation
Suchet Musa, Project Manager for the Joint Initiative for Strategic Religious Action (JISRA), highlighted the importance of building trust between communities and security agencies. According to him, the training aimed to create a direct link between community members and security personnel to facilitate timely responses to conflict-related issues, particularly those involving freedom of religion and belief.
“We want to ensure that community members can report early warning signs of conflict and receive timely responses from security agencies,” Musa said. He noted that many communities in Plateau State, such as Bokkos and Barkin Ladi, have witnessed violence due to delayed responses to early warning signs.
The Role of Early Warning and Early Response in Conflict Prevention
One of the training facilitators, Tosin Adebayo, Program Development, Quality, and Reporting Coordinator at Search for Common Ground Nigeria, stressed the importance of understanding both the theoretical and practical aspects of early warning and early response.
“Early warning and early response is a concept that has been in practice for years, but often, it is adopted without fully understanding its theoretical framework or its ethical implications,” Adebayo said. He explained that early warning involves the timely detection of conflict indicators before they escalate into violence, while early response refers to the coordinated, timely actions taken to address these indicators.
Adebayo also pointed to the specific context of Plateau State, which has faced increasing challenges such as farmer-herder conflicts, banditry, and kidnappings. “This is why we see the need to build the capacity of community members in detecting early warning signs, particularly around issues of freedom of religion and belief, which are central to the projects funding this initiative,” he added.
When asked about the key takeaway for participants, Adebayo emphasized the importance of timely information sharing. “One of the issues that came up during the training is the lack of coordination and trust between community members and security forces. We want people to feel confident in reporting early warning signs to the appropriate agencies and for these agencies to take full responsibility for responding promptly,” he stated.
Key Training Goals: Empowering Communities to Prevent Conflict
Another facilitator, Andy Nkemneme, National Conflict and Policy Analyst at SFCG Nigeria, reiterated that the primary goal of the training was to establish sustainable peace in Plateau State. Nkemneme outlined the need for stakeholders to understand the nature of conflicts, their prevention, and the practical steps required to resolve them before they become violent.
“The major goal of this training is to achieve peace on the Plateau by identifying conflicts early and taking action to prevent them from escalating. We need to establish structures that can detect early warning signs and respond to them before they lead to loss of life or property,” Nkemneme explained.
However, he acknowledged that a significant challenge remains the capacity of responding agents. “There are many instances where potential conflicts are identified early, but the agencies responsible for responding either lack the resources or coordination to act in time,” Nkemneme said. To address this, SFCG has involved security agencies in the training to ensure they are equipped to respond more effectively to early warnings.
Building a Peace Architecture in Nigeria’s Middle Belt
Search for Common Ground has established a peace architecture across the Middle Belt region of Nigeria, including Plateau, Benue, Taraba, and other states. Nkemneme explained that the peace architecture involves creating platforms at the community, local government, and state levels to detect and address early warning signs of conflict.
“At the community level, we train observers who can identify early warning signs and report them to local government authorities, where security agencies and local leaders can take action. If the issue is not resolved at that level, it is escalated to the state-level platform, where higher authorities, including police commissioners and military officials, can intervene,” Nkemneme said.
This approach has proven effective in several conflict-prone areas, such as Adamawa and Benue, where early warning systems have prevented violence on multiple occasions. However, Nkemneme emphasized that more collaboration is needed to expand the reach of these initiatives. “We alone cannot be everywhere, but with community involvement and the support of security agencies, we can prevent many conflicts from turning violent,” he concluded.
Participants’ Reflections on the Early Warning and Early Response Training
At the conclusion of the Early Warning and Early Response (EWER) training organized by Search for Common Ground, participants shared their insights and takeaways, highlighting the impact of the training on their roles in promoting peace and security in Plateau State.
SP Ayuba Ilia, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Rantya Station, Plateau State Command, representing the Commissioner of Police:
“This program is very, very nice because it exposes a lot of us and other members of the public or community to understand the difference between early warning and early indicators. This knowledge will now prepare the community to know what to do at the right time and at the right point if there’s any security threat affecting the community. It is timely, especially for Plateau, where some areas have been engulfed in security situations. This enlightenment came at the right time to ensure the safety of the community as a result of this program.”
Pharmacist Markus Audu Kanda, Co-Chairman of the Plateau Youth Interfaith Forum:
“We want to first of all appreciate Search for Common Ground for inviting our forum to this training. The importance of this training, particularly for us as leaders, cannot be overstated. Given the violent attacks that we have unfortunately witnessed in Plateau State, especially in farming communities, this training equips us to identify early signs and indicators that communities should be conversant with. Sometimes it starts with rumors that, upon investigation, have truth in them. At that point, it’s critical to involve security agents, as they are trained and equipped with the tools needed to prevent violence. The training is both timely and helpful.”
Fatima Abdullah Sani, from Barkin Ladi community, Plateau State:
“In my community, I see the best way to make an impact is by stepping down the knowledge I gained from this training to other community members. I’ll teach them about how to recognize early signs of tension and how to respond to them. It’s important for me as a community member to understand how to handle these situations, as I’ve attended various trainings before, but this is the first that exposed me to the concept of early warning and early response. I now have more knowledge and will share it with my fellow JISRA members and community stakeholders.”
Sheikh Umar Farouk Mohammed, Co-Chair of the Plateau State Youth Interfaith Forum and Deputy Imam of Fiber Mosque in Jos:
“The program came at the right time, helping us learn how to deal with early warning signs so that we can react appropriately, pass on information, and prevent conflicts. As clergymen, we reach people quickly, and they listen to us, even more than they might listen to authorities. That’s why reverends, imams, and pastors have a crucial role in these kinds of trainings. We plan to ‘step down’ the training, and I’ve already spoken about early warning signs in my sermon today. People truly appreciated it.”
As the training wrapped up, participants were urged to take their newfound knowledge back to their communities and actively engage in conflict prevention efforts. By identifying early warning signs and working closely with security agencies, they can help build a safer, more peaceful Plateau State.
With Plateau and other Middle Belt states continuing to face the threat of religious and ethnic violence, the Early Warning and Early Response system remains a vital tool in protecting lives and promoting lasting peace.
