A Consortium of civil society and research think tanks, yesterday, launched a Regional Citizen’s Dialogue Programme (RCDP) as a collaborative initiative for preventing and responding to unconstitutional changes of government in the West African sub-region.
Launched in Abuja, the initiative seeks to implement a four-year programme for preventing and responding to unconstitutional change of government in West Africa.
The RCDP programme lead team consists of consortium partners led by the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, Nigeria; the Regional Centre for Governance and Security Policy Initiative (CGSPI) accredited to the 4th General Assembly of the AU ECOSOCC, with headquarters based in Sierra-Leone.
Others are the Centre for Good Leadership and Journalism (DCLJ) Abuja, Nigeria; and the International Dialogue Centre KAICIID based in Lisbon, Portugal, who will be supported by other regional and international actors including the African Union and ECOWAS.
The launch of the RCDP served as a platform to present, finalise and adopt a revised programme document, as well as a yearly implementation work plan for the initial phase of the project (February to September 2024).
At the end of the two-day meeting, the Programme Document, the Terms of Reference (ToRs) for the Steering Committee, and a one-year project implementation Action Plan for preventing and responding to incidences of UCG in the West Africa/ECOWAS region were adopted with minor reviews.
The initiative was necessitated by the recent surge in Unconstitutional Changes of Government (UCGs) in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which has posed significant threats to the political stability, and democratic progress in the region.
The troubling trend, evidenced by military takeovers and the overthrow of democratically elected governments has cast a shadow over the achievements in democratisation, including the development of political and security institutions, electoral processes, and the safeguarding of freedoms and democratic rights amongst others.
The trend also jeopardises regional and global efforts to combat terrorism and violent extremism in sub-regions like the Sahel and the Lake Chad Basin.
The RCDP is an attempt by CSOs to support the operationalisation of the AU Accra Declaration on Unconstitutional Changes of Government (UCG) in Africa (March 2022), and the Malabo Declaration on Terrorism and Unconstitutional Changes of Government in Africa, adopted at the 16th Extraordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union Head of States on May 22, 2022.
Present at the launch were the representatives of the Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs who officially launched the initiative while goodwill messages were delivered by representatives of ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs Peace and Security, the AU ECOSOCC, the West African Democracy Solidarity Network (WADEMOS), among others.
At a joint press conference at the end of the launching, NIPSS Director of Research, Prof Dung Pam Sha; RCGSPI Executive Director, Dr Jonathan Sandy and KAICIID Senior Programme Manager Africa, Agustin Nunez-vicandi identified the recommendations arrived at from the event towards tackling UCG.
These include organising the first international consultative conference on the implementation of the RCDP; establishing a functional joint secretariat, a digital innovative-information, communication and technology web portal system; and elaborating a coherent media and communication strategy.
They emphasised the prevention of UCG through education as most interventions have been too focused on post-UCG engagement yielding little results and not enough on prevention.
