Search for Common Ground (SFCG), a European Union-funded peacebuilding organisation, has released a Social Media Listening (SML) report analysing online conversations and digital engagement around key security-related themes in the Niger Delta, including drug abuse, cultism and public safety.
The report validated at a stakeholders’ meeting in Asaba, Delta State tracked how individuals and communities interact with these issues online, with the findings culminating in 26 recommendations aimed at informing government response, advocacy strategies, and policy formulation.
Stakeholders drawn from Bayelsa, Rivers, and Delta states participated in the session, including journalists, security agencies, oil sector regulators, and drug-control institutions.
Sunny Dada, Mass Media and Information Management Coordinator at SFCG, said the organisation hopes government and partners will implement evidence-based actions driven by the report’s data.
“We carried key stakeholders along to ensure that set actions reflect realities in the region,” he said.
He noted that SFCG programmes have reached more than 10 million people, stressing that although long-standing challenges cannot be erased in a short cycle, early gains were already visible.
Among the report’s recommendations are:
scaling up multimedia campaigns to counter the glamorisation of drug abuse and cultism;
strengthening partnerships with influencers, peer groups and community leaders for youth-focused behavioural change;
and conducting periodic validation meetings that compare online findings with real-world feedback.
Dada urged stakeholders not to allow funding constraints to derail implementation.
“If we continue to prioritise money while the region slides into another wave of violence, it will cost even more to fix,” he said, calling for government and donor agencies to provide sustained support.
Speaking at the meeting, Secretary of the Bayelsa State Peace Architecture, Preye Inebaraton, said the goal was to reduce crime and violence by enabling communities to own the peacebuilding process.
“For us in Bayelsa, we have institutionalised peacebuilding through the State Peace Commission. We can only flush out criminality when we collectively commit to peace,” he noted.
Ann Godwin, a journalist from Rivers State and member of the Common Ground Journalists Forum, said technology must be prioritised if the Niger Delta is to accelerate development.
“We are also leveraging the forum to promote peace and collaboration across the region,” she said.
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