Don Advocates Convocation of Regional Peace Dialogues to End Agitations

Gideon Arinze in Enugu

A professor in the Department of Political Science, Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Prof. Felix Asogwa, has called on the Federal government to convoke regional peace dialogues in the Southeast and Southwest regions as part of efforts to aimed at quell the increasing spate of agitation.

Asogwa made the call yesterday, while presenting the 42nd inaugural lecture of the University on the topic: From confrontation to consensus, re-engaging the separatist agitators for sustainable peace in the Nigerian State.

In his address, Asogwa said that past efforts aimed at quelling the increasing spate of agitation in the regions have not yielded the needed result of terminating the agitations, adding that the efforts have focused attention on the fall outs of the agitations rather than the causes.

“The regional dialogues will be the first step towards the National Peace dialogue,” he said. “The peace dialogue sessions should be a form of truth and reconciliation commission that would address the underlying causes of the separatist agitation and involving all competing interests including the state and non-state actors,”.

Speaking further, he said that the engagement of the agitators directly, rather the military option, which has tended to radicalize them remain the most viable option to explore

“These arrangements should be guaranteed by the leaders of the different regions in Nigeria especially the state governments,”he said. “Many people concur that the government’s military response has further popularized these agitators,”.