Nigeria, Colombia Strengthen South-South Partnership on Women-Led Peacebuilding, Countering Violent Extremism
Nigeria and Colombia on Monday reaffirmed their commitment to deepening bilateral cooperation on peacebuilding, women’s leadership and the prevention of violent extremism as both countries commenced a five-day technical mission aimed at translating years of knowledge exchange into practical, community-driven interventions.
The commitment was made at the High-Level Hybrid Engagement on “Women in Leadership and as Partners in Peacebuilding,” organised by the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), in Abuja.
Speaking on behalf of the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, the National Coordinator of the NCTC, Maj. Gen. Adamu Garba Laka, said the growing Nigeria-Colombia partnership has become an important platform for mutual learning and institutional collaboration in promoting sustainable peace, reconciliation and gender-responsive approaches to preventing and countering violent extremism (PCVE).
Laka noted that officials of the NCTC, Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) had benefited immensely from the First and Second Learning Routes to Colombia, acquiring practical knowledge on peacebuilding, community resilience, reconciliation and institutional coordination.
He said the current engagement would consolidate those gains by facilitating the exchange of practical experiences, strengthening institutional partnerships and identifying ways of adapting Colombia’s successful peacebuilding models to Nigeria’s realities.
The NCTC National Coordinator observed that although women are among those most affected by terrorism and violent extremism through displacement, trauma and economic hardship, they also remain indispensable actors in mediation, early warning, reconciliation and community recovery.
According to him, sustainable security cannot be achieved through kinetic operations alone but requires a Whole-of-Government and Whole-of-Society approach that addresses the root causes of radicalisation while promoting rehabilitation, reconciliation and community resilience.
He said the philosophy underpins Nigeria’s National Counter Terrorism Strategy (NACTEST), the Policy Framework and National Action Plan for Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (PF-NAP for PCVE), the emerging Disarmament, Demobilisation, Rehabilitation and Reintegration (DDRR) framework and the country’s commitments under the Women, Peace and Security Agenda.
Laka also highlighted the Nigeria Innovation Plan on Strengthening Women’s Leadership in Stabilisation and Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism Architecture, describing it as a practical mechanism for strengthening institutional coordination while enhancing women’s participation in peacebuilding and recovery.
He disclosed that the engagement would be followed by a joint Nigeria-Colombia field mission to Nasarawa State, where delegates would engage directly with institutions, communities and practitioners to translate lessons from previous exchanges into practical action.
Earlier, the Director of Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (DPCVE) at the NCTC, Ambassador Abimbola Wonosikou, presented an overview of the historical evolution of the Nigeria-Colombia partnership under the South-South Cooperation Programme, “Colombia to the World.”
Wonosikou explained that the partnership is founded on the principle that developing countries can address shared security and development challenges through mutual learning, technical cooperation, institutional capacity building and the exchange of practical experiences.
She said the initiative, coordinated by the Colombian Presidential Agency for International Cooperation (APC-Colombia) in partnership with Procasur, has positioned Colombia as a global leader in sharing best practices in peacebuilding, reconciliation, rural development, community resilience and social inclusion.
According to her, Nigeria’s participation is driven by the similarities both countries share in confronting terrorism, violent extremism and organised crime while implementing non-kinetic approaches to peacebuilding, victim support and community recovery.
She noted that the collaboration also supports the implementation of Nigeria’s National Counter Terrorism Strategy and the Policy Framework and National Action Plan for Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism.
Wonosikou traced the partnership to May 2024 when the NCTC initiated stakeholder engagements, technical consultations and a national workshop involving APC-Colombia, Procasur and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), culminating in the First Learning Route to Colombia.
Read Also:
She said the programme enabled officials of the Directorate of Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism and other Nigerian institutions to study Colombia’s successful approaches to community participation, institutional coordination, reconciliation and sustainable peacebuilding.
Building on that foundation, she explained, the Second Learning Route held in 2025 shifted the partnership from knowledge exchange to practical implementation, with greater emphasis on gender mainstreaming and victims’ support under the “Weaving Equality and Peace” initiative.
According to her, the programme promotes peer-to-peer institutional collaboration, policy innovation and the adaptation of Colombian experiences to strengthen Nigeria’s stabilisation, Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) and Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism architecture.
She said the current five-day mission, covering Abuja, Lafia and Keana Local Government Area of Nasarawa State, is designed as a peer-to-peer technical exchange to strengthen women’s leadership, community resilience and victim-centred approaches within Nigeria’s peacebuilding framework.
The mission, she explained, is guided by the principles of Do No Harm, informed consent and confidentiality, and will culminate in the development of a bilateral roadmap for sustainable institutional reforms and long-term cooperation between both countries.
Wonosikou stressed that the partnership demonstrates the practical value of South-South Cooperation by enabling both countries to jointly develop innovative, locally driven solutions to complex security and development challenges while advancing the objectives of Sustainable Development Goal 17 (Partnerships for the Goals).
She emphasised that the exchange programme is built on mutual learning, with the Colombian delegation sharing its experiences while equally learning from Nigeria’s indigenous peacebuilding and resilience initiatives.
According to her, the mission seeks to strengthen the capacities of federal and state institutions, community actors, women and youth to implement gender-responsive, healing-oriented and livelihood-sensitive interventions that promote prevention, recovery and resilience in communities affected by violent extremism and fragility.
She added that the workshop sessions would provide opportunities for participants from both countries to engage in real-time discussions on adapting Colombian experiences to Nigeria’s context while also exposing the Colombian delegation to Nigeria’s PCVE framework.
Wonosikou urged participants to actively contribute their expertise and experiences throughout the mission, expressing confidence that the collaboration would further strengthen institutions, empower communities and promote a more peaceful, resilient and inclusive Nigeria.
In her opening remarks, the Head of Delegation from Colombia and representative of the Presidential Agency for International Cooperation of Colombia (APC-Colombia), Modesta Alexandra Ariza, described the mission as another significant milestone in the partnership both countries have nurtured since 2024 under the South-South Cooperation Programme, “From Colombia to the World.”
She recalled that Nigeria had participated in three immersive learning missions to Colombia, while Colombian experts had also visited Nigeria to study the country’s response to violent extremism, particularly in Zamfara State.
According to Ariza, those engagements informed recommendations on strengthening gender-responsive approaches and addressing conflict-related sexual violence within Nigeria’s peacebuilding architecture.
She said Colombia deliberately included representatives of women’s organisations in the delegation because many of the country’s most successful peacebuilding initiatives emerged from communities that experienced armed conflict firsthand.
Ariza noted that Colombian women played pivotal roles in negotiating and sustaining the landmark 2016 Final Peace Agreement with the FARC-EP and continue to support victims, search for missing persons, preserve historical memory and champion reconciliation.
“Colombia has not come with ready-made solutions. We have come to share what has worked, what has been difficult and what we continue to learn, while equally learning from Nigeria’s own experiences,” she said.
She described the initiative as a genuine dialogue between equals where knowledge flows in both directions and where communities remain at the centre of peacebuilding efforts.
The Colombian envoy also linked the mission to her country’s broader Africa Strategy, which seeks stronger cooperation with African nations in peacebuilding, education, science, rural development, environmental justice, innovation and gender equality.
The week-long programme, which runs from Aug. 3 to Aug. 7 across Abuja and Nasarawa State, is expected to conclude with the adoption of a joint Nigeria-Colombia roadmap to strengthen institutional cooperation, promote women-led peacebuilding, support victims of violent extremism and deepen South-South cooperation for sustainable peace and development.