A new digital platform designed to strengthen peacebuilding coordination and improve access to peace-related data has been introduced under the initiative known as the Nigeria Peace Web (NPW), according to a policy brief released in March 2026.
The platform, developed by researchers including George Biesmans, Dr. Timipere F. Allison, Dr. Saheed B. Owonikoko, and Distinct I. Obuzor, seeks to address what experts describe as a critical gap in how peacebuilding activities are documented and analysed across Nigeria.
Bridging the Peace Data Gap
According to the policy brief, while Nigeria has developed relatively strong systems for documenting violent conflicts and security incidents, comparable infrastructure for recording peacebuilding initiatives, mediation efforts, and reconciliation programmes remains largely absent.
This imbalance, the report argues, has led to a situation where public and policy attention focuses more on crisis response than on preventive peace efforts.
Researchers say the lack of structured data means peace practitioners often repeat baseline studies or operate with limited knowledge of previous interventions carried out in the same communities.
The report notes that many peacebuilders across Nigeria face several operational challenges, including reliance on costly primary data collection, fragmented secondary information sources, loss of institutional memory, and isolation among organisations working on similar issues.
A Digital Infrastructure for Peace
The Nigeria Peace Web platform is designed to function as a national data infrastructure for peacebuilding, providing a structured and searchable repository of information on peace initiatives and actors operating across the country.
The platform enables users to:
- Access structured profiles of peacebuilding actors and initiatives
- Upload documentation and lessons learned from interventions
- Filter information by state, local government area, thematic focus, actor type, and timeframe
- Visualise peace data through maps and infographics
- Download datasets for further research and policy analysis
- Identify collaboration opportunities among organisations
- Track the impact of peacebuilding interventions on conflict dynamics
Developers say the system is intended to help practitioners, researchers, and policymakers move beyond isolated interventions toward a more coordinated national peace ecosystem.
Supporting Government and Civil Society
The policy brief highlights the importance of the platform for a wide range of stakeholders, including government agencies, civil society organisations, development partners, and academic researchers.
For government institutions, the platform could support evidence-based policy planning and improve transparency in peacebuilding programmes. Civil society organisations are expected to benefit from improved coordination and access to shared knowledge resources.
Donors and development partners, meanwhile, may use the platform to identify funding gaps and reduce duplication of projects across different regions.
Strategic Policy Recommendations
To ensure the success of the Nigeria Peace Web, the authors propose several policy actions. These include institutional adoption of the platform by government bodies, integration into donor funding frameworks, multi-stakeholder governance structures, and stronger mechanisms for structured data sharing.
The report also stresses the need for sustained investment in data integrity to ensure the reliability and usefulness of the information stored within the system.
According to the authors, investing in a national peace data infrastructure could significantly reduce duplication of projects, improve the efficient use of limited resources, and strengthen accountability in peacebuilding initiatives.
Toward a Connected Peace Ecosystem
Ultimately, the Nigeria Peace Web aims to shift the country’s peacebuilding landscape from fragmented and episodic interventions to a more interconnected system where knowledge and lessons from past efforts inform future action.
The report concludes that making peace data visible, searchable, and accessible will allow peace actors to build upon previous work rather than repeatedly starting from scratch—an approach the researchers say is essential for building sustainable peace across Nigeria.
