IntercontinentalNewsReservoir: PAVE network backs grassroots approach to combat extremism in Katsina

By Abbas Bamalli

A Civil Society Network, Partnership Against Violent Extremism (PAVE), says grassroots approach offers a viable path to addressing extremism, and ensuring lasting peace in Katsina.

The State Chairman of the network, Prof. Bashir Kurfi, stated this in Katsina on Wednesday while giving an update on the current state of Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (PCVE).

Kurfi said analysts had continued to raise concerns over armed groups such as the Lakurawa, who exploit weak governance structures and porous borders to carry out attacks in parts of the region.

He stated that these security threats are worsened across North-West by economic marginalisation in rural communities, high youth unemployment, and proliferation of armed groups.

According to Kurfi, decried fragile community safety systems that are creating conditions that violent actors seek to exploit, hence worsene the situation.

“Stakeholders agree that military responses alone are insufficient, instead, they are advancing people-centred approaches that address the root causes of extremism,” he said.

He revealed that in recent weeks, significant progress had been recorded in strengthening institutional and community capacity for PCVE across the North-West.

“Capacity-building programmes and multi-stakeholder workshops have brought together government officials, security agencies, traditional rulers, women and youth groups, civil society organisations, and technical experts.

“Technical Working Groups, have been trained on the co-creation of State Action Plans (SAPs) and Local Action Plans (LAPs), ensuring that prevention strategies are informed by local realities.

“These engagements have opened new platforms for dialogue, allowing communities and government actors to jointly identify local drivers of extremism and design context-specific solutions,” Kurfi said.

According to him, state PAVE chapters had participated in peer-learning exchanges, helping to reduce duplication, strengthen partnerships, and promote shared ownership of PCVE initiatives across the region.

At the grassroots level, he disclosed that 15-day community resilience campaigns have been conducted in several communities, promoting peace, tolerance, and conflict awareness.

“Through peace education and community dialogues, residents are increasingly seeing themselves as active contributors to local security rather than passive victims,” he noted.

While commending the gains made, including the alignment of PCVE priorities with the National Policy Framework and National Action Plan, Kurfi acknowledged lingering challenges.

“These include the continued presence of armed groups, persistent youth exclusion, weak intelligence, early-warning linkages in some local governments, limited integration of PCVE priorities into sectoral plans and budgets.

He stressed that violent extremism should be understood not only as a security issue, but also as a governance, development, and social resilience challenge.

Kurfi called on rhe residents to remain vigilant, reject extremist narratives, urged traditional/religious leaders to promote peace/tolerance, encouraged youth/women’s groups to lead inclusion and positive-narrative campaigns.

Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and Local Government Areas (LGAs) were also urged to mainstream PCVE into planning and budgeting processes.

NAN