Policy Monitoring Dialogue III: Nigeria's Unity and National Integration: Threats and Opportunities for National Development .

Policy Monitoring Dialogue II on Leadership, Governance and Security Challenges in Nigeria

The 75th Anniversary of the United Nations under the banner “the future we want, the UN we need”, we reflect on the complex challenges facing our world, including cross-border health pandemics, economic shocks, inequality, climate instability, and threats to peace and security, and bring forward a call to action.

With support from Presidential Committee for North-East Initiative (PCNI) in 2018, the Centre carried out a program that sought to strengthen Police-community Relations through Intelligence gathering for sustainable security in the North-East States of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe (BAY) entailed interactive activities with local stakeholders that added value to intelligence gatherings that would ultimately impact on the overall security in the North-East especially in the three states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe.

The Cancellation of the UN75 Regional Dialogue for Africa, opened the door for the online e-consultation, which provided a platform for participants to still contribute to all three thematic areas. The 6 weeks e-consultation, commenced on March 30 and Concluded on May 10. Its outcome of the e-consultation is contained in this report.

Savannah Centre for Diplomacy, Democracy and Development (SCDDD), with support from the MacArthur Foundation, undertook a national project titled; “Democracy, Stability and Media Accountability Project (DESMAP)”, a project designed to primarily push for reforms in journalism and media practices in Nigeria through sets of articulated advocacy/activities intended to; address the administrative and legal gaps that exist in the extant body of laws and code of ethics on journalism and media practice especially as they relate to the propagation of dangerous and hate speech.

Desirous of new strategies that would guarantee future successes in the onerous task of restoration of public confidence in the ability of the Government to corruption, the SCDDD in collaboration with the Arewa Research and Development Project (ARDP) and the Centre for Democratic Development, Research and Training (CEDDERT), organized in 2018, a 2-day roundtable discussions on “The Future of the Fight Against Corruption in Nigeria”.

A one-day brainstorming session in 2017 to deliberate on “Morocco’s Application for Full Membership of ECOWAS”.

The Sahel region, acknowledged to be among the world's poorest, was described by Robert R Fowler, who was a hostage for 130 days in the region, as “a 7000 kilometer band of instability that AI-Qaeda considers a fertile ground for further expansion”. The region is also home to “climate change, desertification and ethno-religious extremism as well as other forms of confrontations,” which easily promote regional insecurity linked to trans-national organized crimes, illicit movement of people, weapons, and narcotics as well as environmental degradation. In this region, are domiciled, radicalization and extremism based on social grievances, unresolved conflicts, religious, historical, personal or community related as well as marginalization that have created suitable ground for discontent that are easily violently expressed.

The 2015 General Elections in Nigeria were held against the backdrop of high insecurity, economic downturn, deep political divisions and public apprehension, particularly about the continued unity and stability of the country. Further challenges included terrorism, and insurgency in the NorthEast region; marked decline in the international market price of oil and the attendant decline in the national revenue and the international value of the Naira; high poverty rate; huge unemployed youth population; the proliferation of small arms and light weapons; weak national institutions and the virtual disconnect between governance and the people which had, over the years, entrenched sub-regional and national insecurity.

Savannah Centre, with support from the MacArthur Foundation, created a Council of the Wise consisting of elder statesmen who served as a trusted voice for the promotion of peaceful elections during Nigeria's 2015 elections.