Written by<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Amos Oluwatoye
\nDirector for Research, Building Blocks for Peace Foundation<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The current rate of poverty\nin Nigeria is alarming. This has resulted in the ill-search for economic\nindependence among the people, especially young ones, making them vulnerable to\nengage in all kinds of criminality such as kidnapping and banditry for ransom,\nterrorism to cyber crimes, etc. Many youths have become the instrument of\npolitical violence in the hands of political egoists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To promote peace in\nNigeria, this article succinctly examines the link between poverty and violent\nconflict. It suggests the need for the formulation of a grant policy capable of\nfinancially empowering community-based non-governmental organizations to\nimplement their community development projects, which can be synergy to\nameliorating the rate of poverty and prevention of violent conflict in the\ncountry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
POVERTY AND VIOLENT CONFLICT IN NIGERIA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n For the purpose of this\narticle, poverty is defined as a lack of the financial or economic resources to\nmeet one\u2019s needs. It is also man\u2019s inability to own the financial resources to\nmeet his basic needs of life: food, clothing, and shelter. Corruption and\npolitical instability have been major causes of poverty in Nigeria. Despite the\nenormous natural and human resources almost half of the citizens of Nigeria are\nliving below the poverty line<\/a>.\nThe resultant effect has been an increase in violence across the nation:\nviolent separatist agitations; religio-political terrorism; cult violence among\nyouth; kidnapping and banditry; community and tribal clashes; electoral violence\nto mention a few. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Research<\/a> has shown\nthat violent conflicts are the result of low per capita income and slow\neconomic growth. There is the possibility that a nation will experience an increase\nin violence when the economic well-being of ordinary people is not taken care\nof. Ritual killings for economic\ngain<\/a> among the youth are a threat to young women and girls who have\nbecome victims of the diabolic and inhumane act. High rate of unemployment and\nmade young ones vulnerable to violent association, thus, increasing the risk of\nviolence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n People in rural communities<\/a>\nconstitute an important sector of the country\u2019s population. They live in abject\npoverty and are often neglected by the government in terms of socio-economic\nand political wellbeing. Crimes and insecurity have become the consequences of\nsuch marginalization. Poverty<\/a> makes them\nmore prone to civil war and armed conflict, weakening the government’s capacity\nto foster development. This interplay<\/a> between\npoverty and conflict is obvious in Nigeria. Several cases of conflicts in the\ncountry are traceable to poverty, including violence against women<\/a>.\nAlleviating poverty should be a major focus of the government as a measure of\npreventing and curbing violent conflict. <\/p>\n\n\n\n GRANT\nPOLICY FOR COMMUNITY-BASED NGOs: A SYNERGY TO POVERTY ALLEVIATION AND VIOLENT CONFLICT\nPREVENTION.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Public policy<\/a> is\nthe objective guide and broad strategy designed by the government to tackle a\nmajor societal challenge. It is a policy devoid of egotism and nepotism in\nresolving a major problem confronting a nation. An example of public policy is\ngrant policy. A grant<\/a> is a sum of money\ngiven by the government to fund projects directed toward solving critical\nproblems in society. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Grant policy<\/a> is a\npublic policy formulated by the government to enable organizations embarking on\nseveral projects that foster social, political and economic development to have\naccess to financial awards from the government. Grant policy is a fundamental strategy\nthat increases the financial capacity of non-governmental organizations to\noperate and alleviate the poor conditions of people living in the communities\nthey serve. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Community-based\nnon-governmental organizations<\/a> are known to be impactful in addressing\nthe needs of local communities in the areas of development. They possess the\npower of inclusiveness; the ability to use their community and social networks\nas resources to meet their set development goals and objectives. They are close\nto the communities they serve by implementing a series of community development\nprojects to better the lives<\/a>\nof neglected and vulnerable people. Through executing various projects, they can\nactivate an environment that promotes the dignity of labour, virtue, respect\nand dignity for human lives and others. But they do not exist without a major\nchallenge-inadequate financial capacity. They lack adequate financial resources\nto implement their humanitarian activities targeted toward achieving sustainable\ndevelopment in the local communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The government needs the\ninput of community-based NGOs with constructive programs targeted toward\npoverty alleviation to reduce the vulnerability of people living in neglected\ncommunities to join violent groups. This improves the living conditions of the\npeople and leaves them with the choice of living peaceably with others as\nagainst the use of violence for economic gains. It will also help in\nameliorating violent conflict risk as is often tied to the struggle for scarce\neconomic resources. Thus, giving grants to community-based NGOs is a good governance\napproach that does not only promote individual, community and national economic\nsustainability but also a synergy to violent conflict prevention and\npeacebuilding in the Nigerian communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n CONCLUSION <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The poor are often\nvulnerable tools for violence in society. The legislative arm of government should\nmake formulation and implementation of grant policy for community-based NGOs a\nmajor agenda. Civil Society Organizations and various media organizations have\na big role to play in persuading the government to formulate and implement\nestablished principles that increases the financial capacity of these NGOs to\nenable them effectively carry out their community development project to\nmitigate violent conflict risk in the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Written by Amos Oluwatoye Director for Research, Building Blocks for Peace Foundation The current rate of poverty in Nigeria is alarming. This has resulted in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":528,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[87,85,22,23,89,21,11,8,7],"class_list":["post-527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-abuja","tag-amosoluwatoye","tag-bbforpeace","tag-buildingblocksforpeace","tag-grant","tag-ngo","tag-nigeria","tag-unscr2250","tag-youth4peace"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=527"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":529,"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527\/revisions\/529"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}