Conflict resolution: Women’s participation critical for peacebuilding, inclusive governance, Lagos Govt

The Lagos State government has reiterated the need to allow women to play key roles in conflict resolutions as part of actions to localize the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 and the implementation of Nigeria’s National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security in the country.

The state affirmed that giving women prominent roles is no longer a matter of global compliance, but critical investment in sustainable peace, inclusive governance and community resilience.

The state Commissioner for Health, Professor Akin Abayomi said the ministry recognises the vital intersection between peace, security and public health affirming that “We are acutely aware that conflict, insecurity, and gender-based exclusion compromise access to healthcare, disrupt essential services, and deepen vulnerabilities—especially among women, girls, and marginalized populations.”

He spoke at the opening ceremony of a 3 Day Stakeholders Workshop on Localization of the United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 in Lagos state, organised by the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP), Global Network of Women Peacebuilders (GNWP) and the Global Affairs Canada.

He explained that the state is committed to mainstreaming gender-sensitive approaches within our health policies and emergency response systems.

Abayomi, who was represented by the Special Assistant to the Governor on health, Dr. Oluwatoni Adeyemi, said “We believe that amplifying the voices of women, youth, and grassroots actors in decision-making processes is essential to driving meaningful change.”

The commissioner added that the efforts made through the engagement to localise resolution “deeply aligned with our broader vision for equitable and inclusive development across Lagos State.”

He applauded the efforts to bring together stakeholders across sectors—health, security, education, governance, and civil society—and urged the organisers to sustain the energy and commitment beyond the workshop.

On her part, National Network Coordinator (WANEP Nigeria), Dr. Bridget Osakwe, explained that the workshop is centered on developing strategies for women’s involvement in peace and security in Lagos States.

She said the mandate is from the resolution of the UN that emphasises women’s participation in peace and security and governments like Nigeria that have rectified it are asked to implement.

“The way to implement it is to develop action plans.  And at a national level, Nigeria has developed the national action plan, the first and the second while the third one is about to be launched. So, what Nigeria has done immediately after developing the first national action plan is now cascading into states,” Osakwe stated.

Meanwhile, she disclosed that 16 states already have state action plans while 14 states have local government action plans.

“Lagos State is joining the states that will be having state action plans. And what it means is that the peace architecture of Lagos State will recognise and find rules for the women,” she said.

She added: “It is one thing to have an action plan and it is another thing to have the implementation of this plan.”

On the implementation of the plan in the state, Osakwe described Lagos as a “model state.”

“Lagos is a state where things work. I am not saying that because I am in Lagos, but because it is the truth. And we know that when that plan is developed in Lagos, Lagos will make it work.

“Secondly, the civil societies that are here would continue to work with the government to ensure the implementation and hold them accountable.  Immediately the government agrees to have an action plan, it becomes the civil societies’ responsibility to hold them accountable for implementation,” she said.

She hoped that at the end of the event, “we will have a state action plan for Lagos State that is talking about how women will be involved in peace and security.

In her remarks, the representative of GNWP, Mrs. Evelyne Mbata, explained that the localisation of the UNSC resolution is an instrument that emphasises local leadership, ownership, and participation as prerequisites for the effective formulation and implementation of local development policies and plans.

She also said the localisation strategy developed by the GNWP in 2010 “is a bottom-up approach that directly engages governors, mayors, councilors, community leaders, paramount chiefs, indigenous and traditional leaders, religious leaders, women leaders, youth leaders, teachers, local police and military personnel, and all other key local actors in the implementation of women, peace, and security (WPS) resolutions in local communities.

“The GNWP’s WPS Resolutions Localisation Strategy has been cited repeatedly by the UN secretary-general in his annual WPS reports to the security council as a key strategy for effective implementation and for its members to exchange and agree on the future of their region,” Mbata said.

She expressed the hope that “this very collaboration between WANEP Nigeria and GNWP will be as successful as the previous ones.”

Also speaking, the Programme Officer at GNWP, Ruth Besong, said there is the need to have women as part of peace building and security action plans.

“If people are not knowledgeable on what laws and policies are set in force, it becomes difficult for them to implement and also to understand the provisions or to know the provisions that such laws have and how they can benefit from the provisions that are available,” she said.

She said having women as part of the process is the focal point of the meeting.

Besong further said she looked forward to supporting other local civil society organisations, the religious leaders, faith-based organisations, community leaders and the security sector and to crave their understanding of what the UNSCR 1325 states and then to enable them to understand how such resolutions could be effectively implemented.

“Implementation comes with localisation. We have to localise these policies to enable them to understand who has to know what and what are we telling them. So, they have a key role to play as stakeholders who have been brought in to expand their knowledge of what the resolution states and then how they can effectively localise this within their respective activities,” she said.

On some cultural barriers in Africa which act impediments to the localisation of the UN initiative, she drew examples of how such obstacles were surmounted in some other jurisdictions: “What happened in our past localisation sessions in different countries such as Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Cameroon, DRC, Yemen, Papua New Guinea, what we usually do at the end of the localisation workshops is to build a group of stakeholders with whom we continue the process with.”

Besong added: “Localisation is a process and we need to carry people along. So at the end of the workshops, we come and establish a local steering committee. What does this entail? It means that we are giving the power back to the community. They are the ones who are supposed to run the affairs of the community.

They are the ones who are supposed to highlight the issues that their respective communities are facing and then they collectively come up with solutions to address the issues that they have highlighted.

“It gives them the responsibility to understand issues like harmful cultural practices and cultural norms and then to come up with solutions to address them.”

Also speaking, the head of programmes at WANEP, Mrs Patience Ikpe-Obaulo, said the Nigerian society is patriarchal, where the men have always been at the forefront of decision-making processes.

She said there are some cultural as well as social barriers that limit women from active participation on issues of peace and security.

“So in modern times we are asking that these barriers need to be overcome. Ample awareness needs to be created that women are not second-class citizens, but rather they have the views; they have the perception, their needs should be considered when we are looking at issues that are against their well-being, particularly in the areas of peace and security.

“Women need to be brought on board. Their unique ideas, their unique perceptions need to be considered in whatever development plans, whatever decisions, policies, programmes that are being implemented in the community.

“That is why we are having this workshop to ensure that stakeholders begin to coordinate and amplify women’s voices when it comes to issues of peace and security and no longer a situation whereby only the men are at the forefront of issues of peace building,” she said.

Ikpe-Obaulo acknowledged that women affairs are at the forefront at the national level.

“Nigeria actually launched the National Action Plan on UNSCR1325 in 2013, reviewed for the second time in 2017, and presently we have the third National Action Plan…2024 to 2028, which are domiciled at the national level in the federal ministry of women affairs and social development. At the state level, we have the state ministry of women affairs who are at the forefront in 16 states, championing the development and implementation of the state action plan,” she said.

Ikpe-Obaulo noted that there is indeed a gap between policy development and implementation.

However, she said the case would be different in Lagos because “we intend to bridge that gap by engaging relevant state agencies that will work alongside with the ministry of women’s affairs to ensure implementation.”

On funding, she said: “We are going beyond drafting to costing, because we are also having a budget aligning with the activities of the state action plan. So it is not just the ministry of women’s affairs that we are thinking about how to mobilise funds for this. Other ministries as it pertains to women’s issues will also be coming alongside to work with women affairs to ensure implementation of the documents,” she added.

Following the workshop, Ikpe-Obaulo said there would be a validation meeting to fine-tune “what we want for Lagos State.”

She said should there be further input or reviews, they would be done and finally presented to the minister of women affairs and then to the governor to see what the women affairs and what the women, basically in Lagos state want.

The resolution, adopted by the UNSC in 2000, focuses on the impact of armed conflict on women and girls, and the crucial role of women in peace and security efforts.

It emphasises the importance of women’s participation in conflict resolution, peacebuilding, and post-conflict reconstruction, while also calling for the protection of women and girls from gender-based violence.