Gen Boroh calls for multi-track diplomacy to N-Delta crisis

(Nigeria) As pressures mount on the federal, state governments and intervention agencies working in the Niger Delta, following renewed insurgency and agitations in the region, the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta/Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Brig-Gen. Paul Boroh (retd), has called for a multi-track diplomacy approach in resolving the issues of development and peace building in the region.
Multi-Track Diplomacy is a conceptual way to view the process of international peacemaking as a living system, which considers the web of interconnected activities, individuals, institutions, and communities that operate together for a common goal: a world at peace.
Brig-Gen. Boroh, who made the remark at the Partners for Sustainable Development Forum, organired by the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, at the Presidential Hotel, Port Harcourt Rivers State, reiterated that “through partnerships the different intervention agencies working in the region could jointly proffer solutions to the problems in the region”.
He said, to make partnership with various organizations in the region realistic, “we all, must be prepared to build, sustain, and evaluate the partnership in a thoughtful way”, saying that this will added value in working with other establishments in the region.
According to him, the Amnesty Office under his watch has established effective and inclusive partnerships with strategic agencies and organizations, cutting across the military, para-military, such as the Nigerian Army, Navy, Airforce, Police, Immigration, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, the Customs and the National Youth Service Corps.
He added: “We are already making arrangements for the National Youth Service Corps, Law Schools, Medical Schools and Internship programmes according to the skills of our delegates to be engaged meaningfully. We have visited and established office in Niger Delta to use the state governments’ structures to accelerate community integration and reintegration”.
“We have also engaged international development agencies to seek support for the sustenance of the programme.
“These agencies include: UK Department for International Development, DFID, U.S Agency for International Development, USAID, Japan International Cooperation Agency, JICA, European Union, EU, (through Seminars/Peacebuilding Efforts for Dialogue), the United Nations Development Programme, UNDP, United Nations Center for Peace and Disarmament, UNCPD, International Oil Companies, IOC, Oil and Gas International Foundation, OGIF and the World Bank”, Gen.Boroh, explained.
The Amnesty boss further explained that “Our discussions with these agencies are focused on their human capacity development and empowerment programmes”
Beside this, the “Amnesty Office is also collaborating with National Agencies such as, Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring Board, NDCMB, Bank of Industry, BOI,  Bank of Agriculture, BOA, National Petroleum Development Company, NPDC,  NDDC, Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Niger Delta, Military and Para-military Commands, including the Army, Navy, Airforce, Media, Police, Immigration, Customs, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC and the Presidential Committee on Small Arms and Light Weapons Proliferation, with a view to seeking support in the areas of capacity building, empowerment and employment”.
He speaks further, though partnership efforts could take time, it is important to create the right framework from the start and review the structure and process of such partnerships and collaborative efforts on an ongoing basis to measure their success or failure.
While commending the acting Managing Director of NDDC, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, for organising the Partners for Sustainable Development Forum, he noted that goals and aims, understood and accepted by each partner, lead to improved coordination of policies, programmes, and service delivery.