“Christogonus C Ibe, Founder/Executive Director, African Youth Initiative on Crime Prevention (AYICRIP), the convener, Education for Justice Civil Society Organization Network, expressed that the network is put together in recognition by the UNODC, that the AYICRIP is accredited as an organization in special consultative status of the United Nation in order to work closely with some foreign missions in Nigeria, especially the U.S Embassy, the United Nation Agencies, to be specific, the United Nation Office on Drugs and Crimes and United Nation Information Centres. As a former PRO of the National Youth Council of Nigeria, I am closer to the youths and can positively impact them”,

“The network’s inauguration and CSO’s composition is the right step in the right direction towards achieving a lawful and crime-free society. Ambassador Agbonkpolor A. Splendour, the Executive Director, Initiative for Leadership and Economic Watch in Nigeria, expressed support for the initiative, which is billed to engender an egalitarian society where lawfulness among citizens is imbibed, particularly for Primary, Secondary, and tertiary education”.

“Mr. Chris Ibe further explained the essence of the meeting held Thursday, September 5th, 2019, to officially introduce the E4J CSO-Network in Nigeria to CSO members in Abuja. The project is self-explanatory because of its message, with a clear understanding with respect to all the programmes and activities laid out in the implementation of the E4J projects to schools”,

“It focuses on education from (primary, secondary, and tertiary institutions), as CSOs obliged to tap into the project in order to reach out to our schools in Nigeria. Mr. Chris noted that he and Amb. Splendour was invited to participate in the official launch in June 18th, 2019, after the meeting. He opined during the E4J CSOs’ Network meeting in Abuja, that his further interface with the UNODC on the need to incorporate the CSOs in the implementation of E4J initiative programmes is very sacrosanct to ensure wide coverage during the implementation not only concentrating on schools”,

“Mr. Chris stressed that, there are also out of school drug users, they remain highest in our society and serves as base for those in schools, when they come home for the holiday, the out of school children are the supply channels when the children come back from school, they mix up with them and get drugs from them as well. Therefore, concentrating only on schools and leaving out those children who fall within the bracket of out of school children may be an effort in futility, if there is no backup plan for the out of school children. The CSOs being one of the most trusted and viable widespread vehicles of awareness and sensitization in Nigeria, the CSOs involvement in E4J Initiative programmes will help to aid in the implementation, because Nigeria is big; concerted effort from CSOs is highly needed in the activities and in the implementation of the project”,

“The above position necessitated the action of the Abuja CSOs meeting, official auguration of E4J Initiative, CSOs Network in Nigeria. It was first launched in Lagos, it took place in July 13th, 2019, CSOs were present at the inauguration to further reach out to other CSOs to participate in the Initiative. The platform for the network members was inaugurated; it has over sixty CSOs as subscribed members of the network and will also be connected to Vienna via the E4J website, if registered with the network, the CSO will be sent a link to get their organization properly registered on the website and in order to access all the materials for the E4J Initiative Project. These and more are the reasons why we decided to have a briefing today being the 5th of September 2019, for Abuja CSOs in line with the development and to further get CSOs connected to the Initiative”.

“The E4J concept is all about crime prevention and creating a culture of lawfulness in the society, it is being implemented by UNODC and sponsored by the government of the State of Qatar, it targets primary, secondary, and tertiary institutions. Education for Justice Initiatives will help educators teach the next generation to better understand and address problems that can undermine the rule of law and encourage students to actively engage in their communities and future professions in this regard, for which varieties of products have been developed in partnership with UNESCO.

“For primary education level (6-12years). E4J focuses on promoting and teaching values such as acceptance, integrity, respect, and fairness. The education materials that are currently going through development, after been developed will contribute to building resilience among children, equipping them with skills such as conflict resolution, critical thinking, teamwork, and empathy. These values and skills are regarded as crucial in creating non-tolerance to crime and violence and helping children to solve ethical dilemmas and building their capacities to better respond when confronted with violence. The materials and tools will also contribute to support learning on the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal in particular goals 4,5,10 and 16.

“For Secondary education level (children 13-18 years old) focuses on providing practical and interactive educational materials to promote the understanding of the basic concepts that lie at the core of UNODC’s mandate areas, including anti-corruption, counter-terrorism, crime prevention, criminal justice, organized crime, cybercrime, firearms, human trafficking, and migrant smuggling. This is achieved through a focus on ownership, behaviour, rights, and responsibilities, aimed at empowering secondary level students to identify, prevent, and resolve moral, ethical, or legal dilemmas”,

“For tertiary education (18+), E4J seeks to support tertiary level education institutions and academics in their efforts to transmit knowledge and create a deeper understanding of rule of law-related issues, with a focus on the subject areas of corruption, organized crime, human trafficking, migrant smuggling, terrorism, cybercrime, criminal justice, crime preventions, firearms trafficking, as well as integrity, and ethics”,

“Mr. Chris Ibe briefing the CSOs in Abuja underscored the importance of CSO members as having a whole lot of responsibilities in the project if working in the areas of drug and substance abuse, violence and extremism, radicalism, leadership, crime prevention, promotion of values, and anti-corruption. These are some of the projects the CSOs have to tap into, that is why the network is brought to CSOs’ knowledge for us to have a proper understanding of E4J Initiative programmes and activities.”,

“Explaining the essence of CSOs gathering in Abuja, and saying that the Network will send a report of the outcome of the meeting to the UNODC, he further said that one of our CSO members is making arrangements for a CSO round table meeting in Benin City, Edo State, like we had today in Abuja, he further stated that one does not need to pay in order to become member of the Network, it is your absolute commitment that is the requirement to be part of the Network. The Network further applauded the UNODC for the birth of education for the Justices Initiative Programme in Nigeria”

The project will support the dissemination of E4J tools by actively promoting them at the local (country) level including making E4J materials known to relevant institutions, particularly ministries of Education, teacher training institutes, and schools which are the proposed activities and implementation modalities, more specifically, the project will focus on the following activities in collaboration with UNODC E4J team in Vienna
a. Locally replicate training with the participant of the country experts trained in E4J or UNODC/E4J events.
b. Disseminate E4J materials at the local events
c. Undertake local technical assistance, especially in incorporating materials national or local education system as well as individual schools.
d. Fundraising from local stakeholders for future conceptualized training and further dissemination.
Beneficiaries for the above initiative are as follow;

The project will focus on four main target audience as direct beneficiaries

1 Governments and Policymakers
2 Educators (this group includes teachers, school principals, and other relevant stakeholders)
3 parents and students
4 Anti-corruption agencies involved in youth empowerment sensitisation,

“Comrade. Mustapha Dahiru, Executive Director, Balewite Family Foundation (BFF), and Co-convener of E4J Initiative CSOs Network, expressed confidence in the CSO network ability to deploy her volunteerism, towards the practical implementation of the project across Nigeria, and further urge CSO members to remain committed to E4J initiative’s promotion of culture of lawfulness among youths in our society, he added”,