As Nigeria continues to grapple with terrorism, the Kingdom of Netherlands Embassy has entered into a partnership programme with the Nigeria`s office of the Institute of War & Peace Reporting (IWPR) to provide training that will tackle the radicalization of Nigerian youths.
The programme which is scheduled to be implemented in the northern part of the country is primarily geared at providing structured training on peace building for students between the ages of 10 to 19 years.
The programme which is tagged ‘Open Minds Nigeria’ aims at using journalism as a platform to empower targeted youths in cultivating the culture of openness, critical thinking, and analytical mind.
Declaring a four- day training workshop organized for Journalists selected to deliver the programme, Harry Putker, who represented the Embassy at the occasion, disclosed that the embassy resolved to support the project as a way of assisting Nigeria to stop the propagation of extremist tendencies in the country.
Putker said his home government is concern about the increasing menace of acts of terrorism in the world, and believes that a project of the nature of ‘Open Minds Nigeria’ will go a long way in addressing the challenge.
According to him, the Embassy will continue to render all necessary support for initiatives conceived by groups, such as the one being implemented by the IWPR.
He commended IWPR Nigeria office for conceiving the project, saying the embassy look towards seeing the project achieve its objectives of helping Nigerian youths live good life.
In his address earlier, Temitope Shaba, project manager, IWPR, Nigeria office, explained that the Open Minds Nigeria project is to be implemented in the North West State of Kano, North East State of Bauchi, and FCT for the North Central
He said the project was conceived after a similar one which the Institute conducted in Pakistan, pointing out that the project will strive to attract young people away from radicalism and views that support violence.
“In carrying out the project IWPR will execute the project in partnership with some notable NGO`s such as ‘Peace Initiative Network (PIN), Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), and Centre for Democracy and Development (CCD)”
“The role of these selected NGOs entails the identification of schools, and pupils that will be participating in the project, across the zones” Shaba added. He commended the Netherland embassy for providing financial support for the hosting of the training programme.
