{"id":18043,"date":"2026-06-20T13:01:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T13:01:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.iita.org\/news-item\/strengthening-peace-through-agriculture-nctc-and-iita-forge-partnerships-for-sustainable-development\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T16:54:28","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T16:54:28","slug":"strengthening-peace-through-agriculture-nctc-and-iita-forge-partnerships-for-sustainable-development","status":"publish","type":"news-item","link":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/news-item\/strengthening-peace-through-agriculture-nctc-and-iita-forge-partnerships-for-sustainable-development\/","title":{"rendered":"Strengthening peace through agriculture: NCTC and IITA forge partnerships for sustainable development"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><figure id=\"attachment_32664\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32664\" style=\"width: 820px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IITA-Director-of-Western-Africa-Hub-Michael-Abberton-explaining-some-of-the-IITA-technologies.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-32664\" src=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IITA-Director-of-Western-Africa-Hub-Michael-Abberton-explaining-some-of-the-IITA-technologies.jpg\" alt=\"The Director of Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (PCVE), Ambassador Mairo Musa Abass,\" width=\"820\" height=\"547\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-32664\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Director of Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (PCVE), Ambassador Mairo Musa Abass,<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Director of Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (PCVE), Ambassador Mairo Musa Abass, at the <a href=\"https:\/\/nctc.gov.ng\/\">National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC)<\/a>, led a delegation to <a href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/\">IITA<\/a>\u2013<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cgiar.org\/\">CGIAR<\/a>, Ibadan, on 10 March. The visit explored potential partnerships in various agricultural sectors and value chains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During the visit, Prof <a href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/iita-staff\/abberton-michael\/\">Michael Abberton<\/a>, the IITA Director of Western Africa Hub and Head of Genetic Resources Centre (GRC), provided a comprehensive overview of IITA\u2019s activities, stations, and hubs, including its presence in the Sahel and multiple projects across sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). He highlighted IITA\u2019s focus on agronomic practices, nutrition, agribusiness, value addition, and seed systems, all of which are centered around the Institute&#8217;s mandate crops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/taat-africa.org\/\">TAAT<\/a> Program Coordinator Dr <a href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/iita-staff\/akem-chrysantus\/\">Chrysantus Akem<\/a> elaborated on the program&#8217;s objectives. Funded by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.afdb.org\/en\">Banque Africaine de D\u00e9veloppement (BAD)<\/a>, TAAT aims to disseminate IITA and CGIAR technologies to smallholder farmers across Africa, driving improved agricultural productivity and sustainability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ambassador Abass expressed her admiration for IITA\u2019s efforts in agricultural transformation, hunger alleviation, and deforestation mitigation across SSA. In her remarks, she emphasized NCTC\u2019s commitment to implementing counter-terrorism policies, strategies, and plans to promote peace and enhance security in Nigeria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><figure id=\"attachment_32665\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32665\" style=\"width: 820px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Representatives-of-NCTC-with-the-IITA-team.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-32665\" src=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Representatives-of-NCTC-with-the-IITA-team.jpg\" alt=\"Representatives of NCTC with the IITA team.\" width=\"820\" height=\"547\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-32665\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Representatives of NCTC with the IITA team.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She also highlighted the challenges in integrating the &#8220;<em>Operation Safe Corridor<\/em>&#8221; strategy in Gombe State, a federal government initiative designed to deradicalize and foster peace. As part of this strategy, compulsory agricultural programs have been identified as a key intervention in rehabilitation centers. Ambassador Abass stressed that embracing agriculture would support reconciliation efforts, reintegrate women into communities, and enhance agronomic development as an alternative source of livelihood. \u201cPartnering with IITA would significantly contribute to achieving these goals for human development and societal stability,\u201d she noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Prof Abberton reaffirmed IITA&#8217;s dedication to capacity building, technology dissemination, and entrepreneurship, noting that IITA could collaborate with other CGIAR centers engaged in different agricultural domains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Concluding the meeting, Prof Abberton announced plans to formalize the partnership through a memorandum of understanding (MoU) and develop a work plan for implementing joint activities. Ambassador Abass welcomed the proposal, expressing optimism about the partnership&#8217;s potential impact. She affirmed NCTC\u2019s openness to collaborating with the Renewed Hope project to promote food security and sustainable development in Nigeria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Contributed by Anita Akinyomade<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Director of Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (PCVE), Ambassador Mairo Musa Abass<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":18044,"template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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