By Innocent Odoh The Government of Finland has pledged to support the Nigerian Government towards engendering peace and resolving the insecurity impasse impeding the developmental efforts of the federal government for rapid socioeconomic advancement.
A statement issued on Thursday by the media officer of the Institute of Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR) Michael Abu noted that the Finnish Ambassador to Nigeria, Pirjo Suomela-Chowdhury gave the pledge while exchanging views with the Director General of IPCR, Professor Oshita O. Oshita on the forthcoming Policy Dialogue on Peace-building: lessons from ECOWAS and IGAN during a courtesy call on the later in Abuja recently.
The Policy Dialogue on Peace-building is being organized by IPCR in collaboration with the Nordic Africa Institute (NAI). NAI is a research institute on modern Africa being run by the Nordic – Northern Europe and North Atlantic countries comprising Finland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Iceland.
Suomela-Chowdhury said security involves a wide range of issues including the crisis of migration which require a common and comprehensive approach to manage as she emphasized the importance of collaboration.
The ambassador expressed optimism that Nigeria would overcome her challenges while commending IPCR for its commitment. She added that IPCR collaboration with NAI would benefit Nigeria in no small measure, the statement said.
Professor Oshita maintained that the federal government of Nigeria is genuinely focused on dealing with violent conflicts and the general security challenges confronting the country pointing out that IPCR would interface with Nordic countries that have good experience of sustaining peaceful coexistence to share into their knowledge and skills to better enhance peace and a violent conflict free Nigeria, the statement added.
