UNIMAID launches resource centre to counter Boko Haram insurgency
- The University of Maiduguri has commissioned a resource centre for violence extremism within and around the Lake Chad region
- The facility was donated by the North-East Region Initiative
- The resource centre will be involved in research and development of counter-narratives against extremism
A newly established resource centre for countering violence extremism (CVE) within and around the Lake Chad region has been commissioned by the University of Maiduguri, Borno state.
Premium Times reports that the facility, which was commissioned on Thursday, June 28, is expected to carry out research and develop counter-narratives against extremism like Boko Haram.
Legit.ng gathers that the facility, which is the first of its kind in the country, was donated by an international aid agency, the North-East Region Initiative (NERI).
Speaking during the commissioning of the centre, programme manager of NERI, Suleiman Dauda, said: “We believe sustainable recovery cannot be achieved unless we prepare grounds for such to thrive; and that involves engaging the right human resources, putting in place the right scholarly and knowledge based research and ideas; because the ideas of stabilisation and recovery must have to come from a recognised body of knowledge or institutions.
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“That is the basic reason that informed us choosing the University of Maiduguri for the purpose of establishing the countering violence extremism center which will work collaboratively with other universities across the Lake chad basin to ensure that we forge a common front in countering violent extremism. This collaboration will seek the active involvement of Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon.
“NERI is a donor funded project and as such it comes with a life span; so we are hoping that by the time NERI is folding up some day, we will be able to leave behind a very sustainable system that the University who has all the manpower can effectively carry on.
“We have provided the furniture, the e-library, the dozens of computers, 20kva generator, air conditioning of the offices, office equipment like printers, photocopiers, the internet facilities, and of course funds for the daily running the generator.
“NERI is also responsible for designing organogram and what is expected of the centre in terms of objective research and promoting programmes that will promote the core objective of the CVE.
“Our broad expectation is for the CVE Resource Centre to achieve a very stable post insurgency recovery across the communities in the Lake Chad region, through the churning out of information that are credible and making it accessible to those in the highest position of government, the federal legislature, the military and other stakeholders in the northeast for the purpose of effective decision making and policy formulation."
The vice chancellor of the institution, Abubakar Njodi, represented by a deputy vice chancellor, Haruna Godowoli, declared the centre open. He described the centre as one of the best collaborative partnership that has ever happened in the life of the institution.
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Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that no fewer than 70 lecturers had resigned from the University of Maiduguri since the outbreak of Boko Haram insurgency in the northeast.
Also, while five lecturers had been killed, three were said to have been held by the insurgents during an attack on oil workers.
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Source: Legit.ng
