{"id":65421,"date":"2022-05-17T01:23:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-17T05:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.worldcatholicnews.com\/nigerian-priest-speaks-up-for-africas-borderlands\/"},"modified":"2022-05-17T01:23:00","modified_gmt":"2022-05-17T05:23:00","slug":"nigerian-priest-speaks-up-for-africas-borderlands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.worldcatholicnews.com\/nigerian-priest-speaks-up-for-africas-borderlands\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigerian priest speaks up for Africa\u2019s borderlands"},"content":{"rendered":"
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World<\/h2>\n

Continent\u2019s borderlands are places of untapped opportunities and great resilience\n<\/p>\n

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Father\u00a0Atta Barkindo addresses the Africa Borderlands Research Conference in Naivasha, Nairobi, Kenya, which ran from May 9-14. (Photo: supplied)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Published: May 17, 2022 05:23 AM GMT<\/p>\n

Updated: May 17, 2022 05:43 AM GMT<\/strong>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

A Nigerian Catholic priest has told a UN conference that Africa\u2019s borderlands and their communities are a unique source of ingenuity, places of untapped opportunities, and great resilience.<\/p>\n

Father Atta Barkindo, who directs the Kukah Centre in the Nigerian capital Abuja was speaking at the Africa Borderlands Research Conference hosted by the United Nations Development Program in Naivasha, Nairobi. <\/p>\n

The current conference on Elevating Africa\u2019s Borderland Voices discussed emerging development issues at these border areas, paying attention to West Africa (Lake Chad and the Sahel) and the Horn of Africa (East Africa).”These regions play host to more than 270 million inhabitants, a combined population significantly larger than any single state on the continent, with about 106 existing border areas,\u201d he told the May 9-14 conference.In many of these regions, insecurity and poverty disguise the true socio-economic potential of borderlands and their communities, the priest said.According to him, the main sources of livelihood \u2014 communities at the border \u2014 are becoming poorer and dependent on land that has substantially declined in terms of value.The strategist touched on gray areas like vulnerabilities, threats to livelihoods, governance, provision of services and coping mechanisms for communities at the borderlines.”Communities remain vulnerable to increasing levels of insecurity, climate change and population explosion.”Aggressive desertification, the existence of criminal gangs, illegal taxation, and illegal security checkpoints, organized crime and criminal activities pose threats.”The Kukah Centre director stressed that: “Governance by other means, territories are fragmented with different layers of authority depending on who has the monopoly of the use of violence.”He also insisted that “services are now mostly provided by donors and international development partners, while the influence of national governments in the African borderlands is waning so fast.”People in these areas, in their attempt to live, resort to “cross-border migration as individuals and as communities, fundraising to pay protection tax, and the emergence of independent community security outfits for self-preservation.”If circumstances are improved, the borderland communities \u201chave the capacity to achieve sustainable growth, peace and stability,\u201d he said.”Governments and international partners should provide essential structures for governance and rule of law.”Education, including the creation of awareness on environmental protection and climate change must be taken seriously and strategically.”He canvassed support for youths and women to build resilience from conflict to stability as well as increased synergy rather than competition between international development partners.<\/p>\n

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