Following a recent visit to Nigeria, USAID Administrator Mark Green said he has learned the critical role interfaith leaders play in mitigating violence in their communities, and the fact that these conflicts are often caused by disputes over access and distribution of resources, which are exacerbated by rapid population growth, urbanization, and desertification, among other factors. 

While in Abuja, Green met with religious leaders, local officials, clerics, civil society activists and beneficiaries to get a first-hand look at USAID’s peacebuilding efforts and the role civil society plays in mitigating rural violence. 

 Throughout the visit, Administrator Green emphasized USAID’s commitment to partnering with the government and people of Nigeria as they advance towards a self-reliant future.  

 Visiting Igu District, Green commended local leaders for building upon USAID assistance to help maintain peace, stability, and religious tolerance in their communities. 

In a meeting with the District head Tanzako Solomon, the Administrator praised the traditional council and Bwari Local Government Area Council for its effective resolution of disputes and mitigation of conflict between farmers, pastoralists, as well as other ethno-religious groups in the community. 

 “Thank you for showing us what you have done so that we can learn from you,” Administrator Green told Solomon.  “The way you have worked with different members of your community to promote peace, reconciliation, and tolerance can serve as an example for others in Nigeria as they work to reduce violence and conflict and promote communal harmony.”     

 Solomon described for Green the formation of the district’s conflict mitigation committee, comprised of different religious leaders, members of cattle breeders association, local officials, police, and farmer representatives, which he characterized as a simple and transparent means to resolving the frequent small-scale clashes between farmers and herders in his community.

 Outside the district offices, Green exchanged ideas and lessons learned with women micro-entrepreneurs, youth leaders, and smallholder farmers, who benefited from the Feed the Future Nigeria Livelihoods Project. The five-year program helped vulnerable families diversify their income sources and produce foodstuffs that improved nutrition in the region.

 In the capital, Administrator Green met with Vice President H.E. Professor Yemi Osinbajo to discuss the many ongoing humanitarian and development issues faced by Nigeria. 

 Vice President Osinbajo expressed appreciation for U.S. assistance in health, education, and agriculture, noting that the programs under the U.S. Feed the Future initiative made a strong contribution to the government’s National Livestock Transformation Plan, which also assists both farmers and herders enhance livelihoods, such a feed lots for cattle, and new opportunities for farmers to grow food to feed them. 

 “U.S. assistance helps in the right sort of places,” Osinbajo said.  “especially with respect to health, humanitarian assistance, and education,” noting that that he looked forward to partnering more closely on renewable energy and education in the future. 

 Green said USAID is working to promote a climate in which U.S.-based businesses will be among many that are eager to invest in Nigeria, its work consisting of enterprise-driven development that is “doing well by way of doing good”  and emphasizing promotion of a robust private sector.

 “We stand with our friends in crisis, and look for ways to help build greater resilience,” Green said.

 A former teacher, the Administrator commended the Vice President for his advocacy for nine years of free and compulsory education and understanding the moral obligation to “develop future generations,” especially girls, and in the northeast, where kids still need to go to school, the ongoing conflict notwithstanding.

“Education is vital to curbing extremism,” Green agreed. “Children are your future.”

 Later in the trip, Green met with regional stakeholders to discuss USAID's support for conflict resolution and other strategies for peace building as it relates to rural violence in the Middle Belt, farmer-pastoralist conflict. This dialogue included leaders of both the Muslim and Christian communities as well as civil society organizations.

Meeting clerics working in many of the communities hit hardest by insecurity throughout the Middle Belt and northern states, Green said he believed interfaith collaboration, tolerance and good governance were the key ingredients to peace and stability, and recognized the benefits of community-based approach and integrated livelihoods to promoting communal harmony.

“Your voices are heard by the American people,” he said, telling them he came to Nigeria to learn and seek their advice on innovative strategies with which USAID can identify ways to promote more vibrant and peaceful communities throughout Nigeria.

For their part, the clerics all wholeheartedly agreed that religious differences are just one factor surrounding the origin of the recurring clashes that disrupt their communities.  The conflict, they explained, is complex and multifaceted, intertwined with environmental, economic, communal, cultural, historical, demographic, and other resource-based needs in their communities.  They suggested that the media – especially new dynamic created by social media – as well as political and criminal elements, can advance generalizations that perpetuate conflict, for commercial and political gain.

“Our work is to de-conflict the narratives,” the leaders told Green.

Desertification, deforestation, overgrazing, and private land-grabs have together led to a steady reduction of both grazing pastures and arable farmland.  Because the lives of farmers and pastoralists are interdependent, the solution lies in how to address the economic impact of issues of dwindling land, water, economic resources, they told Green.

U.S. assistance from Feed the Future, they said has gone a long way towards reducing local unemployment and raising household incomes promoting entrepreneurship among youth, which contributes to reduction of poverty, especially with respect to revitalizing the private sector to boost development of agricultural value chains in soybean, soya, cowpeas, and sorghum production.

In Bwari town, Administrator Green met with local chiefs, representatives of farmers and pastoralists, women and youth leaders, faith-based organizations and beneficiaries supported by three U.S-assisted conflict mitigation projects.  These projects have reduced violent conflicts in their communities. 

They have also empowered the parties to collectively mitigate violence through reconciliation and other peaceful means. The participants were selected from four Middle Belt states that are mostly affected rural violence.

The success of these activities, they told the Administrator, show that local communities are better-placed to mitigate and resolve local conflicts than governmental and security-based solutions.  Community dialogue fostering mutual understanding, under astute local leadership complemented by mutually beneficial economic development activities may well be the best answer.