The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs have commenced the training of officers of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR).
Dr Stephen Faleti, the Lead Facilitator, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the sidelines of the opening ceremony in Keffi on Monday, that the exercise was aimed at boosting the capacity of the NSCDC Peace Desk Officers nationwide.
NAN reports the two-week training in which about 200 officers were participating, would end on Sept. 28.
Faleti noted that the training was a follow-up to a similar programme held in 2013.
He reiterated the need for continuous and concerted training of new and old officers because of the gap between the current ratio of trained peace officers and the Nigerian population.
“If you recall, last year alone, over 14,000 civil cases were settled by NSCDC Peace officers.
“In the process, over N100 million was saved and recovered from parties settling their disputes without going to court.
“Now, this is a process we feel should be continued and peace officers should be encouraged to do more.
“Even though this is something that started since 2013, this year’s training is an upgrade of what we had done previously.
“For instance, this year we are going to add other components such emotional intelligence, even for the peace makers.
“You need emotional intelligence not only to be able to help people settle their conflicts, but also you require that skill to do well in dispute settlement.
“We will also be comparing notes on how the peace officers have been doing their job, and the challenges they face.
`We intend to offer suggestions on how they can overcome some of the challenges they come across in their everyday intervention scenarios,” he said.
In a separate interview, Zakari Ningi, the Assistant Commandant-General (Training) in the command, told NAN that the NSCDC, in partnership with UNDP, had since 2014 engaged in progressive collaborations.
He said that the step had led to the strengthening of the capacity of the corps’ Peace Officers nationwide.
“It may interest you to know that this collaboration between the NSCDC and UNDP actually started in 2013. Since then, over 200 peace officers have been trained throughout the country.
“In 2017 alone, over 13,000 varieties of conflicts were handled and successfully mediated to the satisfaction of the disputants.
“Apart from that also, over 50 chartered mediators and conciliators have been trained.’’
He thanked the UNDP and Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for their support in ensuring that the officers were adequately trained.
“I want to use this opportunity to thank the UNDP and also acknowledge the assistance we received from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“We want to assure them that the NSCDC will continue to do its best in ensuring that we explore the possibility of settling disputes without really going into litigation,” he said.