UNESCO Co-Chair on Peace and Citizenship at Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti (ABUAD), Prof Olaoluwa Oyinloye, has advocated learning and practice of what he called “constructive conflict management” to reduce resort to violence in the nation’s political circles.
Prof Oyinloye identified lack of conflict management and intolerance of dissenting views and political, ethnic and cultural diversities in Nigeria as triggers of violence which often result in killings and assassination of opponents in the nation’s political arena.
He explained the need to always identify triggers of violence and nip them in the bud before they degenerate into crisis of greater proportion which could inflict instability and humanitarian crisis in the land.
The scholar made the remarks during the closing ceremony of a one-day Professional Capacity Building Workshop organized by the Department of Conflict, Peace and Strategic Studies, Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti in which the participants engaged in cross-fertilization of ideas on pertinent issues on conflict prevention and management.
Prof Oyinloye stated that the workshop which had as its theme: “The Alternative to Violence Project,” was a grassroots, volunteer-led program designed to equip individuals with the tools and insight to navigate conflict constructively, without resorting to violence as well as building capacity for peacebuilding skills at micro level.
The forum offered the participants a platform to avail themselves of developing peace building skills through series of exercises, role-playing, and group discussions practised conflict de-escalation techniques, learnt to identify triggers and also shared experiences aimed at fostering a sense of community and mutual understanding.
Speaking further on the importance of constructive conflict management, Prof Oyinloye said: “Conflicts are normal, ubiquitous and they are like the air we inhale and we should be glad when the conflicts are happening, especially, when they have not degenerated into violence, whereby we will be having political assassination in the country.
“So, conflicts are normal but it should be constructively and creatively managed. Even though we see conflict as normal in the field of Peace Studies, what we always speak against is violence because it destroys things, it makes it difficult for people to live together in peace.”
Dwelling on whether poverty is responsible for violence, Prof Oyinloye said violence cannot be entirely attributed to poverty but is just one of the causes of violence or conflict in the country.
He added: “It may be one of them but not the only one. We have value differences, which has to do with religious intolerance, we have miscommunication issues.
“This happens, when the government talks and the citizens cannot hear and the citizens talk and the the government cannot hear and have psychological issues. Those are the four broad causes of conflicts.”