The Adamawa government with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has developed an action to prevent and mitigate conflicts in the state under the State2State programme.

Speaking at the stakeholders meeting for next year’s first quarter engagement of the programme in Yola on Wednesday, a conflict specialist, Mathias Yake, said the action plan was aimed to prevent conflict which has adverse effects on peace and development as well as revenue generation.

He said the dialogue by stakeholders would increase their knowledge, understanding, and skills in the use of different approaches to conflict mitigation and prevention.

According to him, the dialogue would also help identify any emerging pull and push drivers of conflict and their impact on internal revenue generation and service delivery in key sectors like basic education, primary healthcare, water, sanitation and hygiene.

In his remarks, Iheanyichukwu Iheke, the local government manager of the State2State programme, urged stakeholders to always do everything possible to prevent and mitigate conflicts before it became violence .

According to him, when it becomes violence, it would affect the economic development of the state.

He advised them to always be conflict sensitive to avoid feeding into conflict dynamics like farmer-herders and other conflicts.

He said that it would be good for all to invest in peace building for economic development in the state.

Salihu Savannah, director taxes in Adamawa Internal Revenue Service, described the meeting as a way forward for peaceful co-existence and addressing farmers/headers crisis in the state.

He noted that taxes would not be easily collected if there is conflict, while affected communities would not benefit from the dividend of democracy.

Musa Ardo, the assistant secretary, Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association, Adamawa chapter, lauded the government for the initiative toward addressing conflicts, particularly headers/farmers crisis in the state.

(NAN)