Our Achievement

  1. One of our major achievements so far is the publication of Nigeria Peace Index (NPI) research, which is a national replica of the renowned Global Peace Index (GPI).

The NPI is a big deal for us because the research was conducted without sponsorship from any organization, either local or international. The NPI report will help peace builders engage authorities at various level to put public peace at the heart of their decision making, through indicators based peace building. The NPI would also help people coming into Nigeria to have a glimpse into the situation in the country and make information decisions about their movement and investment.

  1. Another major achievement for us was our success in averting a major crisis in the country, through our anti hate advocacy against genocide in Northern Nigeria.
  2. We also consider our prompt response to the Ife crisis in Osun State as another achievement because our response helped limit casualty and quickly put crisis under control.
  3. The anti-suicide bombing campaign is another achievement which we hope to be sustained for maximum impact.
  4. All the above achievements are apart from our consistent influence in changing narrative of conflicts and other national developments.

OUR SUCCESS STORY

Within the short period of our operation, we have been able to avert a major crisis and limit conflict escalation.

For example, in August 2017, we uncovered an inciting hate song calling for genocide in Northern Nigeria and such a dangerous song could set the country on fire. After proper deliberation about the danger posed by this hate song, we concluded that only a dedicated campaign can neutralize the effect and we immediately launched an anti-hate advocacy.

At first, the public didn’t respond to our advocacy appropriately because they assume we were raising false alarm, a practice usually engaged by regional groups to incite the public. However, our consistency and clarity of message forced the public to take note and the whole nation eventually gave us their attention. Former presidents, governors, ministers and several civil society organizations joined our campaign and re-echoed our messages. Even international organizations like United Nations, African Union and others joined the advocacy and we were able to avert the threat.

Another success story for us was the successful mediation of a conflict between a civil society organization and a member of the federal house of representative in Nigeria.

In 2016, during the heat of budget padding scandal in Nigeria, the civil society organization and the honorable member had violent engagement, which led to supporters of both parties attacking each other. The crisis eventually escalated until it was taken to court for resolution. However, after more than one year in court, the mater could not be resolved prompting our intervention. We initiated a mediation process to resolve the matter out of court.

While it was difficult at first, we were able to get both parties to the discussion table and a resolution was agreed in less than 1 week. The matter was withdrawn from court and both parties embraced each other.

Also, our intervention in Ife town crisis was also important. When the crisis broke out, it was reported as a crisis between two ethnic groups (Hausa and Yoruba) and such crisis often lead to reprisal attacks.

However, when we intervened in the matter, it was discovered that the crisis was not ethnic, but a conflict between two individuals that was wrongly managed. The conflict was further compounded when news reported that certain numbers of people had been killed, a report we later found out to be false.

Our prompt response and findings helped changed the public narrative and limited the conflict escalation. Interestingly, the person who was reported to have been killed that led to the escalation of crisis eventually showed up and said he was never attacked. This confirmed our earlier report that shaped the conflict resolution.