DIWA Empowers 50 Women Groups With Counter Extremism Skills In Bauchi
The Development Initiative for West Africa (DIWA) has trained 50 Islamic women groups on strategies to detect and handle traces of violent extremism among children and youths in Bauchi.
The training, jointly implemented by Da’wah Institute of Nigeria, brought together women from different Islamic sects for six days.
Speaking, the Head of Research Da’wah Institute of Nigeria, Abdulmalik Abu-Sufyan, said the training, which is a continuation of its ‘stepdown’ training, adopts a multilingual approach to appropriately get the message across to the representatives of the various Islamic women groups.
He said since the wake of Boko Haram insurgency, there is the need to empower mother’s with requisite skills to counter extremist ideologies among children because of their role and power at shaping and moulding behaviour.
“The women trained here expected to go back to their communities and clan and empower other women with the same skills that they were given at this training.
“The main focus of the training is the prevention of violent extremism spreading among youths. Therefore, the training was designed to be a vaccine to the people of Bauchi against violent extremism.
“Those who attend this training would be able to counter violent extremism narratives and also provide alternative views with cogent reasons to convince people on the best thing to say and best action to take,” he said.
On her part, the leader of Federation of Muslim Women Association of Nigeria (FOMWAN) Bauchi chapter, Habiba Sa’ad Usman, said the training is apt and timely, arguing that women are at the receiving end of violent extremist activities as in the case of Boko Haram.
“Discussing issues that relate to violent extremism is timely because it mostly affects women. Those that are affected in the Boko Haram insurgency are mostly women and children.”
She said poverty complicated counter extremism narratives as most youths recruited into such vanguards are jobless and into drugs.