The Women Situation Room Nigeria (WSRN) has mobilised stakeholders and trained more than 50 youths in Ebonyi State as peace advocates as part of efforts to prevent electoral violence and promote a peaceful environment before, during and after the 2027 general elections.
The initiative, which brought together traditional rulers, government representatives, security agencies, media practitioners, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and youth leaders, focused on strengthening peacebuilding mechanisms, conflict prevention and early-warning systems across the state.
The engagement formed part of activities marking the 2026 International Day of Peace, observed annually on September 21, with the theme, “Investing in Peace for Everyone, Everywhere and Every Day.”
Speaking at the stakeholders’ dialogue, the Ebonyi State Coordinator of WSRN, Lorieth Nwafor, said the engagement was designed to deepen stakeholders’ understanding of the need for deliberate investment in peace, particularly as political activities intensify ahead of the 2027 elections.
Nwafor said the organisation had already trained more than 50 youths as peace advocates who would serve as grassroots champions for conflict prevention and peaceful coexistence across the state.
She explained that WSRN is an arm of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), an international organisation operating in 10 states in Nigeria, with a mandate that includes training women, youths, media practitioners and other stakeholders on election monitoring, observation, reporting and peacebuilding.
“We just concluded the training of over 50 youths on peacebuilding before engaging the stakeholders,” she said.
According to her, one of the participating organisations, the Young Men Network, had developed a social media application designed to facilitate the gathering and dissemination of early-warning information, adding that WSRN was committed to exploring the platform’s potential in strengthening its peacebuilding advocacy.
Nwafor stressed that peacebuilding could not be achieved through the efforts of a single institution, but required coordinated action by government, political actors, security agencies, traditional institutions, civil society, the media and citizens.
She described the engagement as timely, given the proximity of the 2027 general elections and the need to prevent political differences from degenerating into communal violence.
The lead discussant, Doris Ajah-Okohu, identified youths as critical actors in peacebuilding, noting that they were frequently exploited by self-serving politicians and other elites to perpetrate violence during political contests.
Okohu advocated sustained dialogue and psychological reorientation of young people, arguing that addressing their grievances and helping them appreciate the consequences of violence would reduce their vulnerability to political manipulation.
“A proper dialogue with the youths to understand and deal with their grievances is necessary in averting the impending crisis,” she said.
She added that youths should be made to understand that their families and loved ones were often the ultimate victims of violence, stressing that effective reorientation could transform them from instruments of conflict into agents of peace.
“If we work on the psyche of our youths, we can redirect them to become instruments of peace rather than violence,” Okohu said.
Also speaking, the Ebonyi State Coordinator of the National Human Rights Commission, Christopher Okorie, and other stakeholders maintained that sustainable peace was inseparable from justice, equality and respect for fundamental rights.
They urged governments at all levels to promote fairness and inclusiveness in the political, social and economic spheres, while calling on political actors to abandon the practice of recruiting and arming youths for electoral violence.
The stakeholders instead urged politicians to engage young people constructively and harness their energy and creativity for democratic participation and positive political reforms.
They further called for stronger collaboration among stakeholders in identifying early warning signs, addressing grievances and deploying preventive measures before conflicts escalate.
The participants maintained that prioritising youth engagement, justice and inclusive governance remained critical to safeguarding the 2027 electoral process and consolidating peaceful coexistence in Ebonyi State.
