The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has urged the Federal Government to expand the role of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in tackling insecurity by making it a key platform for peacebuilding and community cohesion across the country.

The rights group also called on the Federal Government to adopt Kaduna State’s peacebuilding model as a national framework for addressing insecurity, saying the approach demonstrates that lasting peace requires more than military operations and policing.

The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has urged the Federal Government to adopt Kaduna State’s peacebuilding model as a national strategy for tackling insecurity, while proposing an expanded role for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in promoting peace and social cohesion across the country.

In a statement on Monday signed by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, the rights group said the peacebuilding approach introduced by Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani deserved national attention because Nigeria’s security challenges could not be resolved through military operations and policing alone.

HURIWA called on the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR), the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the NYSC to work with the Kaduna State Government to document, assess and adapt the state’s peacebuilding experience into a flexible national framework that states could tailor to their peculiar security and socio-economic realities.

“States should begin by conducting comprehensive conflict and peace audits to identify the root causes of insecurity, including communal disputes, unemployment, land conflicts, religious intolerance, marginalisation and criminal activities,” HURIWA noted.

It also urged the IPCR to undertake an independent evaluation of Kaduna’s model to determine “what works, why it works and how it can be adapted elsewhere,” rather than treating it as a political success story.

HURIWA further proposed the creation of a Peace and National Cohesion Community Development Service under the NYSC, through which corps members would receive training in conflict prevention, mediation, civic responsibility, interfaith dialogue and community engagement.

The organisation stressed that corps members should not be turned into security operatives but should serve as “peace educators, civic ambassadors and bridges between communities and government institutions.”

It also called on the NHRC to ensure that justice, accountability and human rights remain central to any national peacebuilding framework, warning that lasting peace could not thrive where citizens felt excluded or denied justice.

The group further advocated the establishment of a national early-warning and early-response system to detect emerging conflicts before they escalate into violence, with traditional rulers, religious leaders, women, youth groups and civil society organisations playing active roles.

According to HURIWA, peacebuilding should also be linked to development through sustained investments in education, healthcare, agriculture, employment, infrastructure and social protection.

The organisation welcomed the reopening of schools and healthcare facilities, as well as the return of farmers to previously abandoned farmlands in Kaduna, describing them as evidence that peace and development are mutually reinforcing.

HURIWA also urged President Bola Tinubu to establish a National Peace and Community Resilience Council comprising federal agencies, state governments, traditional institutions, religious bodies, civil society groups and security agencies to coordinate nationwide peacebuilding efforts.

“The Kaduna experience should not merely be applauded. It should be studied, independently evaluated, documented and, where successful, strategically adapted for the benefit of the entire federation,” Onwubiko said.

He added that Nigeria must move from a reactionary security culture to a preventive peacebuilding culture by investing in conflict prevention, inclusion, justice and community ownership of peace initiatives.