By Olukayode Idowu
Borno State Governor, Prof. Babagana Zulum has taken the drive towards attracting more support from the international community towards strengthening Borno’s peace-building efforts by addressing a group of participants at a four-day working retreat organised at Oxford University, England.
According to a statement on Thursday by the governor’s spokesman, Mallam Isa Gusau, the retreat, which focuses on support for victims of Boko Haram attacks and managing repentant insurgents, is holding at the University of Oxford from September 13 to 16, 2023.
Gusau, said the retreat has the theme: “Strengthening the Borno Model” of peace-building in terms of improving pathways to the successes recorded in encouraging mass exit of Boko Haram fighters and addressing shortcomings of the model.
The retreat was organized by UK based Inter Mediate, a registered charity institution working towards ending armed conflicts around the world.
According to him, the charity body is partnering with “(international) experts on the development of implementation plans on transitional justice and strategic communications, and to set out a vision for the next phase of the Borno Model within the context of Nigeria’s wider peace strategy”.
The retreat is supported by the UK’s High Commission in Nigeria.
Gusau revealed that his principal arrived the UK on Wednesday evening and on his arrival, he was hosted to a welcome dinner at the first college in the University of Oxford. He was hosted by Baroness Valerie Amos, the master of the college (the first-ever black head of an Oxford college).
Governor Zulum on Thursday made a presentation titled “The Borno Model- a strategic vision for the next phase (results, ambition and challenges).”
The retreat had presentation on “centering Borno in a Nigerian and Regional Peace Strategy (setting the Borno model within Nigeria and LCB’s wider conflict resolution approach and harmonizing the model with the dialogue initiative)”.
Gusau said the retreat is expected to produce “a winning communication strategy” and “a legal framework for transitional justice” for the Borno Model with 100 days action plan for implementation.
The retreat has representatives from the Nigerian Federal Government, the Nigerian military, the UK High Commission and consulting experts.
Gusau revealed that the governor is attending the retreat alongside a delegation that includes Borno’s Commissioner for Information and Security, Professor Usman Tar, the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Barrister Hauwa Abubakar, the special adviser on security, Brigadier General Abdullahi Ishaq (retired), the chief adviser and coordinator on
Sustainable Development, Partnerships and Humanitarian Support and including himself.