The United Nations Resident Coordinator in Nigeria, Edward Kallon, on Monday advised the President Muhammadu Buhari to complement military efforts with dialogue and what he called political approach in tackling the security challenges being faced in parts of the country.
Kallon disclosed this to State House correspondents after leading a delegation to a meeting with Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
“The conflict is still ongoing. It is not over. But today again, I told Mr. President that in addition to the military effort, that there is the need to complement that with enhanced dialogue and political approach process in search of durable solution to the crisis.
“So, we think various approaches have to be used to find a solution,” he said.
He listed three forms of conflicts in Nigeria to include identity-based, resource-based and power-based conflicts, adding that there is no “one size fits all” solution to them.
Kallon said it has so far been difficult to find a solution to conflicts in Nigeria because of the mixture of the three different forms. He also made a case for the 1.2 million displaced persons in the North East and the 293,000 refugees outside the country.
He said he told the President that the only solution to the North East is peace.
“The only thing we can do is to ensure that in whatever we do, we prioritise prevention. We support development in areas feasible and we provide humanitarian assistance when needed,” he added.
Credit: PUNCH
