CPPBI was initiated in 2010 by Mr. Obuseh Jude, Mrs Franca Joseph, and Mrs. Vanessa Isibor who, before the establishment of the organization had been engaged in conflict prevention, peacebuilding and sundry other violence deterrence and reduction initiatives in several conflict theatres in Nigeria.
The principal motivating factor behind the formation of the organization was the conviction, based on close observation of practices in the field, that the traditional approaches to violent conflicts in Africa by governments, organizations, peace practitioners and other key stakeholders in the Multitrack Diplomacy spectrum were mostly reactive and largely ineffective. The feeling was that most of the high intensity, largely destructive civil conflicts that occurred in some countries, which, in some cases resulted in mass genocides, as happened in Rwanda, forced displacement of persons and other tragic outcomes, would have been prevented if the key stakeholders in the victim countries had taken proactive steps to address the key background issues that preceded the subsequent eruption of violence.
CPPBI’s establishment was premised on the need to set up an organization that had the capacity of identifying, diagnosing and suggesting remedies to the latent/background causes of violent conflicts in Africa in order to help prevent them from manifesting, or from escalating into full blown violence when they do manifest.
The considerable practical knowledge and expertise of the founding members of CPPBI, which adequately prepared them for the herculean tasks in the field, have contributed significantly to the achievement of the core objectives of the organization. These three musketeers have since been joined by other passionate disciples of peace from multidisciplinary backgrounds and, together, they have synergistically transformed the organization into a thriving peace building hub. The organization’s positive impact is being felt in Nigeria and beyond.