By Our Reporter
– With global funding for preventing and countering violent extremism (PCVE) shrinking, Nigeria must invest in sustainable, locally-owned solutions that can outlive donor support, ActionAid Nigeria and the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund (GCERF) have said.
Speaking at the maiden National Summit on PCVE in Abuja, GCERF National Coordinator, Yetunde Adegoke, said Nigeria could no longer rely on donor-dependent interventions. She stressed the need to strengthen agricultural value chains and cooperatives by linking communities with private-sector opportunities.
She cited the case of Fulani women cooperatives whose daily incomes increased from less than ₦100 to over ₦600 after being integrated into dairy production for major food companies. Adegoke said the approach had not only improved livelihoods but also fostered peaceful coexistence between farmers and herders while sustaining PCVE networks across states.
“Global PCVE funding is shrinking, so Nigeria must begin to build resilient structures that will remain long after donors exit. Our goal is to support state and local action plans, scale up successful models, and ensure that communities themselves lead the way,” she said.
On his part, ActionAid Nigeria Country Director, Andrew Mamedu, identified unemployment, poverty, climate change, and social media manipulation as major drivers of radicalisation. He noted that the shrinking of Lake Chad by 90 per cent had deepened insecurity in the region, while joblessness continued to make young people vulnerable to extremist recruitment.
“For us in ActionAid, preventing violent extremism has been a priority since 2016 through our SARVE programmes. We believe building community resilience, promoting accountability, and strengthening partnerships are critical to curbing radicalisation,” Mamedu said.
The summit, organised by the PCVE Knowledge, Innovation and Resource Hub in partnership with the PAVE Network, and supported by the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), ActionAid, and GCERF, brought together government officials, security agencies, civil society, and private sector representatives to explore sustainable responses to violent extremism.
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