Forced displacement, TEKAN and women peacebuilding initiatives in Northern Nigeria

abstract

TEKAN (Tarayyar Eklisoyoyi Kristi a Nigeria or the Fellowship of Churches of Christ in Nigeria) refers to the Conference of Churches in Nigeria (COCIN). The coming together of COCIN to form TEKAN in Northern Nigeria was the first time that women of indigenous churches in the region came together to render support to displaced victims of conflict. Since 2007 the TEKAN Peace Desk has become an important pillar in providing psychosocial support to displaced women who are victims of ethno-religious conflict in Plateau State. Other local peacebuilders are engaged in humanitarian activities for people in Kaduna displaced as a result of the banditry and kidnapping that has become rife in Northern Nigeria since 2012. Kaduna and Plateau State have been immensely affected by the banditry of the Fulani militia, who embarked on massive cattle rustling with forceful raiding of livestock, destruction of properties, and loss of lives in various rural communities, and its association with the kidnapping of girls and rape. It is against this background that this profile piece examines the role played by TEKAN and local women peacebuilders. The first category of women are those from church initiatives, while the second category comes from the larger cohort of women peacebuilders in Kaduna and Plateau State. TEKAN has succeeded in transforming the lives of communities displaced and traumatised by conflicts, by organising workshops on skills acquisition, dialogue, and interfaith psychosocial support, with the initiation of various programmes aimed at rendering support to victims of displacement.

keywords:

• displacement
• women
• conflicts
• peacebuilding
• migration
• peace

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mubarak Tukur

MUBARAK TUKUR was a 2019 Gerda-Henkel Stiftung scholarship holder at Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda, and graduated in February 2024. He attended Umaru Musa Yar’adua University in Katsina, Nigeria, where he obtained a Bachelor’s degree in History (2007-2011) and gained a Master’s in History at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria (2013-2016). Mubarak is also a Lecturer II in the Department of History and Security Studies at Umaru Musa Yar’adua University. His teaching and research interests include peacebuilding, peace and conflict resolution, war and peace, gendered peace studies, women’s history, social movements, and the history of modern Nigeria. His PhD thesis is on ‘Women and Peacebuilding in Northern Nigeria from 1952-2018’, historicising feminine participation in peacebuilding. Email: [email protected], [email protected]