WHAT THEY DO

The PYLF has since its inception been devoted to advocacy for peace building and conflict resolution in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The need for this is because of economic agitation by youths of the Niger Delta region resulting in a militancy which impacted negatively on the nation’s economy. In 2009, the Federal Government of Nigeria instituted the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) to educate, train and reintegrate reformed ex-militants into society. However, an important part of training vital to this process has been overlooked. That is the inclusion of a mechanism that continuously educates the youths of the Niger Delta region on the importance of peacebuilding and conflict resolution. A major reason for the continuous breakdown of security in the Niger Delta region, is the prevalence of false news which serves to incite already heightened tensions and leads to conflict or the prolonging of already existing conflict which contributes to loss of life and property and impacts on development in the region.

The Progressive Youth Leadership Foundation (PYLF) has taken all of these into account and developed a concept of Radio Journalism which it intends to use as an educative mechanism to sensitize the region’s youths and create a pathway that promotes dialogue in place of conflict. This project will focus on the thirty thousand (30,000) ex-agitators captured in the PAP’s database and other youths belonging to the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide. The geographical reach is the Nine (9) Niger Delta states.

The PYLF hopes to use radio journalism to promote conflict resolution and peacebuilding, a process which will go on to involve the critical stakeholders from the region, national and international agencies that focus on conflict resolution, government agencies responsible for development in the region and oil companies domiciled in the region. The PYLF hopes that her research and findings through this project in the long run becomes part of the facts referenced and used in formulating policy regarding development in the Niger Delta region