Kukah Centre Executive Director Joins Expert Team on National Peace Framework

The Executive Director of The Kukah Centre (TKC), Fr. Atta Barkindo, has joined an Expert Review Team constituted by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) to review and refine Nigeria’s proposed National Peace Framework.

The Expert Review Team was inaugurated by the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, as part of efforts to develop a coordinated national framework for addressing the underlying causes of insecurity through non-kinetic approaches.

The framework is expected to strengthen Nigeria’s peace architecture by addressing existing and emerging threats to national stability and providing mechanisms for conflict prevention, dialogue, reconciliation, community resilience and peaceful coexistence.

It will also promote inter-agency and inter-governmental collaboration, gender inclusion, community engagement, governance accountability and coordinated peacebuilding efforts.

According to ONSA, the framework is intended to move the country from predominantly responding to manifestations of insecurity to preventing conflicts by addressing their underlying causes.

The Expert Review Team is expected to examine the framework’s thematic pillars and ensure strategic alignment with existing peace and security architectures of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union (AU).

During the inauguration in Abuja, Ribadu said the framework was not intended to replace existing peacebuilding initiatives but to harmonise them within a coherent national architecture.

He said the ultimate objective was to strengthen Nigeria’s capacity to anticipate, prevent and resolve insecurity through an inclusive non-kinetic peace architecture.

Barkindo brings more than 15 years of experience in peacebuilding, counterterrorism and community engagement to the assignment.

He holds a PhD from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, where he researched conflict and terrorism in Sub-Saharan Africa.

He was subsequently part of a European Union Technical Assistance Team that worked with ONSA on the establishment of Nigeria’s Disarmament, Demobilisation, Rehabilitation and Reintegration (DDRR) programme.

Barkindo also led researchers from the United Nations Development Programme Borderlands Centre in Nairobi in mapping actors involved in terrorist activities around the Lake Chad Basin.

He was later engaged by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) to develop a roadmap on transitional justice in Nigeria.

The Kukah Centre said Barkindo’s participation reflected its commitment to supporting efforts to strengthen peace and security in Nigeria.