S’ West monarchs, CSOs seek more powers to tackle crises

Some traditional rulers and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in the Southwest geopolitical zone of the country have recommended constitutional roles for monarchs to effectively respond to crises in their domains.

The recommendation was contained in a communiqué at the end of a three-day workshop in Ibadan, Oyo State capital, on Conflict Prevention, Peaceful Coexistence, Tolerance and Alternative Dispute Resolution.

The workshop was organised by the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution for monarchs and CSOs in the zone.

It recommended that traditional rulers should be duly recognised by the relevant authorities and respected as government representatives in their various communities.

“As the closest authority to the citizens, monarchs should be financially empowered to ensure quick response to threats to peace in their communities.

“There is the need to empower the monarchs with support from government as the Chief Security Officers in their respective domains such as allocation of ‘Security Vote’.

“Traditional rulers within the zone should strengthen network among themselves to foster a forum that allows them to meet periodically to share opinions and experiences,” it said.

It also stressed the need for the monarchs to strengthen their operational structure to make their office function optimally in order to be taken more seriously by the government.

“Traditional rulers should be non-partisan as fathers of all; they should make deliberate efforts to avoid taking sides with any candidate or political party.

“Traditional rulers should go back to their domains to critically analyse and articulate issues that pose risk, threats and vulnerability factors and come up with solutions to address them.”

The communiqué recommended that all southwest State Governments should establish Alternative Dispute Resolution systems backed by law at the community levels in states where it had not been established.

The monarchs and CSOs observed that cattle grazing had posed a major challenge in recent times across the Southwest, particularly with the new breed of armed herders.

They also noted that Southwest shared similar societal conflicts and challenges like land grabbing, political crisis, chieftaincy tussles, kidnapping, unemployment, armed robbery, and drug abuse, among others.

According to the communiqué, the traditional rulers, at the end of the workshop, formed a ‘Royal Peace Network’ to foster friendship among them and to meet periodically to share experiences.

The workshop was attended by traditional rulers and CSOs from Ekiti, Kwara, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun and Oyo states.