The Partnership Against Violent Extremism (PAVE) has warned that efforts to prevent and counter violent extremism in Nigeria will remain ineffective unless interventions are driven from communities upward rather than designed and implemented from Abuja alone.
The organisation said conflict prevention must begin with households, districts and local action structures where early-warning signals emerge long before they escalate into attacks.
This formed the key message at a two-day stakeholder workshop held in Kaduna, organised by the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR) in collaboration with PAVE and partners. The meeting drew representatives from government agencies, civil society, women’s and youth groups, traditional leaders, persons with disabilities, and community-based organisations across the state.
Speaking on the sidelines of the workshop, Director of IPCR and Coordinator of the National Conflict Early Warning and Response Situation Room, Steve Agbo, said the programme was designed to deepen understanding of Nigeria’s PCVE structure and strengthen coordination between federal, state and local actors.
“This workshop brings stakeholders to understand how PCVE implementation works in Nigeria,” he said. “The goal is to ensure that actors from the national level down to the state and the local government implement PCVE effectively in Kaduna State.”
He noted, however, that representation from uniformed security agencies was low.
“The only category not strongly represented were the security agencies,” he said, “though we know some key units do not appear in uniform.”
State Chairperson of PAVE, Eric John, stressed that community resilience is the foundation of PCVE success, not policy documents written in Abuja.
“Communities still have low capacity in managing conflicts and identifying triggers,” he said. “Violent extremism must be tackled from the grassroots with functional early-warning and early-response systems.”
He said young people, women, religious groups and persons with disabilities must take up responsibility as frontline actors and not wait for government directives.
“Community people must take responsibility because security issues start from the local level,” he added.
A representative of Youth Against Violent Extremism and Joint Movement for the Blind, Priscilla Daniel, said persons with disabilities face higher risks during crises and must therefore participate actively.
“If we embrace violence, we will be the first victims,” she warned. “We must promote peace from the grassroots.”
Participants said the workshop helped map stakeholders across Kaduna’s 23 LGAs, including tea sellers associations, youth clusters and informal groups not previously recognised. Barrister Sarah Kajiri-Peters of the Kaduna Ministry of Justice described the sessions as “an eye-opener that broadened understanding of who must be involved to prevent violence.”
A community leader from Gwagwada in Chikun LGA, Alhaji Lawal Magaji, said traditional institutions will take the plan back home for implementation.
“We will go back and apply this knowledge,” he assured. “Our role is early detection and intervention.”
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