The Conflict Research Network West Africa (CORN West Africa) has mobilised researchers to critically review the practise of social protection policies such as conditional cash transfers, support for internally displaced persons, and school feeding, among others, at an international Conference holding in Abuja.
In a release signed by the Director, Conflict Research Network, West Africa, Dr. Tarila Marclint Ebiede, the maiden conference which is organised in partnership with the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR), focuses on “Social Protection in Fragile and Conflict Affected Societies in Nigeria.”
The Conference, holding on November 8 and 9, 2023, at the Conference Hall of the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR), Abuja, Nigeria, serves as the first intellectual forum for Nigerian scholars to critically interrogate the practice of social protection in Nigeria.
•Director, Conflict Research Network, West Africa, Dr. Tarila Marclint Ebiede
Dr Ebiede noted that proper management of social protection could contribute to peacebuilding and reduce conflict as well as insecurity in Nigeria.
According to him, Professor Remi Aiyede, the Research and Policy Uptake Lead at the Partnership for Social and Governance Research in Africa (PASGR), Kenya, will deliver keynote address.
Special guests at the conference include Hon. Abdulaziz Danladi, National Coordinator for the National Social Safety Nets Coordinating Office (NASSCO), Cristian Munduate, UNICEF Country Representative Nigeria and Chris Pycroft, Development Director, British High Commission, Nigeria.
Dr Ebiede further stated that “the conference is coming at a time when the government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had rolled out different social protection programmes designed to help citizens cope with the prevailing difficult economic situation in the country.”
Papers at the conference will examine how these social protection programmes, such as conditional cash transfers, school feeding programmes, COVID-19 palliatives, support for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPS) in Nigeria, youth empowerment programmes, have fared in practice.
The conference will also examine the links between social protection programmes and efforts of peacebuilding, conflict management, and reduction of insecurity in Nigeria.
A special session at the conference will focus on the politics of Nigeria’s social register, with the aim of unpacking the implications for poverty alleviation.
“This conference is urgent because it creates an opportunity for policy makers to receive feedback on ongoing programmes and policies with the aim of improving the outcomes of these programmes and policies,” Dr Ebiede stated further.
The conference will attract scholars, researchers, and policy analysts from universities, think tanks, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones and abroad.
