Traditional rulers from Lake Chad
By SADIQ ABUBAKAR, Maidugiri –
In a significant step towards fostering sustainable peace and development in the Lake Chad Basin, a regional meeting of Traditional Rulers convened from January 27-28, 2025, on the sidelines of the 5th edition of the Lake Chad Basin Governors’ Forum (LCBGF) scheduled for January 29-31, 2025. Organized by the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) in collaboration with PROLAC/MCRP, the meeting brought together traditional rulers from across the region to deliberate on the theme: “Fostering Sustainable Peace through Traditional Rulers in the Lake Chad Basin”.
At the end of the two-day meeting, the traditional rulers issued a communique, signed by HRH, Alhaji (Dr) Muhammad Ibn Abali Muhammad Idris, the Emir of Fika and Chairman Yobe State Council of Traditional Rulers, outlining key resolutions and recommendations aimed at promoting peace, stability, and development in the region.
Read full text of the communique below:
“The forum is committed to the role as guardians of traditions, peace and social cohesion within our communities as well as supporting the efforts of States and technical and financial partners to restore security, improve local governance, and strengthen the resilience of populations in affected areas.
“Traditional Rulers of the communities of the Lake Chad Basin, unanimously and solemnly declare to commit to strengthening our role as custodians of the culture and tradition, peace, preventing and managing community conflicts and promoting dialogue and reconciliation between the parties.
They agreed to develop local frameworks for dialogue to promote peaceful co-existence, including youth, women, and marginalized groups, fight Violence Against Women while strongly condemning all forms of violence against women, whether physical, psychological, economic, or cultural.
“We are committed to raising awareness in our communities about women’s rights and promoting respectful and equal behaviours. We will work with local and international institutions to set up mechanisms to protect women victims of violence,including listening and assistance centres.
“We will work to integrate women into mediation and decision-making processes ,recognizing their essential role in peacebuilding., cross-border Cooperation between the Communities. We commit to promoting cross-border cooperation to strengthen solidarity between communities in the different countries of the Lake Chad Basin.
“We will work to establish cross-border frameworks for dialogue among traditional rulers to resolve conflicts related to access to natural resources, trade, and people’s mobility. We will develop mechanisms for sharing information and best practices to manage common challenges, including security, migration, and resource management.
“We will support joint initiatives for cross-border socio economic development, such as markets,trade corridors,and joint environmental programmes. Preservation and Promotion of Endogenous Knowledge.
“We commit to valuing and transmitting traditional knowledge ,including ancestral natural resource management practices,conflict resolution,and ecosystem preservation. We will develop educational and cultural programmes to document, safeguard, and transmit this knowledge to the younger generations.
“We will promote recognizing endogenous knowledge as essential to public policies and development initiatives. We will work to partner with academic institutions and international organizations to integrate this knowledge into modern solutions to current challenges.
“We call on governments and international partners to provide technical and financial support tailored to the needs of communities to build stabilization and resilience.
“We commit to actively seeking funding to implement concrete actions at the local level, focusing on sustainable and inclusive solutions. We will work to establish a permanent regional framework for reflection and consultation among traditional rulers to ensure effective coordination of efforts,” the chairman said.
According the statement, the traditional rulers have unanimously agreed,” to address the Negative Impact of Social Media. We will conduct awareness campaigns to encourage positive use of social media and counter disinformation that threatens social cohesion.”
“We will promote transmitting cultural and traditional values to strengthen identity and unity within our communities. While in a bid to achieve these commitments,, we make the following recommendations:
-Multiply artificial ponds within communities, -Organize cultural activities to bring communities together.
“Others include -Institutionalize the platform of traditional rulers and define a meeting schedule, -Organize campaigns to combat online disinformation,, -Group young people around development activities, -Rebuild/create basic social infrastructure (schools,health centres,roads, etc.) destroyed by the Boko Haram sect.
“-Advocate with LCBC member states,technical and financial partners for a 2nd phase of PROLAC and MCRP.
-Establish operational transit centres,, -Invite traditional rulers to strategic security meetings, -Advocate with governments to allow acts taken in customary courts by traditional rulers to have legal power.
“-Engage youth in local security,
-Facilitate communication between the countries of the Basin, -Guarantee security at the borders, -Restore trust between the army and the civilian population,
-Strengthening the capacities of traditional rulers, -Find ways for traditional rulers to travel so that they can better move around the field to respond quickly to specific emergencies.
“The rest are to Create strategic bases along the borders to deploy the defence and security forces.
-Develop the basic instruments for the operation of the platform (LCBC), and -Create a WhatsApp group of traditional rulers of the Lake Chad Basin.
“We, the traditional rulers, have unanimously decided as follows:
-The platform is called the Lake Chad Basin Traditional Rulers Forum,
-A Secretariat of the Lake Chad Basin Traditional Rulers Forum is created and composed of the following:
Chairman: His Royal Highness, the Emir of Bade/Yobe State, Nigeria.
signed:
HRH, Alhaji (Dr) Muhammad Ibn Abali Muhammad Idris, the Emir of Fika and Chairman Yobe State Council of Traditional Rulers
