Forum
By Isaac Aregbesola
Maiduguri, May 9, 2018 (NAN) The Lake Chad Basin Governors’ Forum rose from its two-day meeting with a pledge to use the body as a platform to address cross-border challenges.
The governors stated this in a communique issued at the end a Forum for Regional Cooperation on Stabilisation, Peace building and Sustainable Development in the region affected by Boko Haram crisis.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the meeting was organised by UNDP and Borno Government with funding support from provinces in Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria.
The governors stressed the need for a community-based approach as a solution to Boko Haram crisis in the Lake Chad region.
“It was further recognised that communities have identified traditional and religious institutions, women and young people as essential to charting a path toward stabilisation and peace, ‘’the forum said.
The forum resolved to include religious institutions among others in its regular consultations and meetings, to increase opportunities of providing better life for people living in the Lake Chad Basin area.
The governors also affirmed their commitment to using the platform to promote dialogue and cross border avenues and exchange of information in responding to the crisis.
The governors also agreed on a community base approach to ensure sustainability of solutions to the Boko Haram crisis in the Lake Chad Basin.
They resolved that the forum would continue to be a platform to serve as a veritable contribution to the Lake Chad Basin path toward stabilisation, peace and sustainable development.
The forum also resolved to convene annually on rotational basis among governors in the four countries, in the spirit of equal and shared ownership.
“In addition, the Lake Chad Basin Governors Forum agreed that the next meeting would hold by the end of the first quarter of 2019 in Niger Republic.’’
The meeting was attended by over 150 stakeholders representing regional and multinational organisations, development partners among others. (NAN)
IAA/MOL/DUA
Edited by Mustapha Lamidi/Dada Ahmed