Cover of Special Report 496 Nigeria's State Peacebuilding Institutions Early Success and Continuing

The mandate also encourages the KSPC to work with the media, schools, local and international organizations, other government agencies, and farmers and herders, and to implement peace agreements and assist the government in strengthening sta- bility and the rule of law. [...] It reports to the governor through the secretary to the state government (SSG), the head of the state’s civil service, but is not considered part of the cabinet. [...] This arrangement puts the agency’s director and its staff in the untenable position of being part of the governor’s team, and thus obliged to support the governor’s political agenda, while trying to distance the agency somewhat in order to gain the trust of communities where the opposition is dominant. [...] ORG SPECIAL REPORT 496 15 The KSPC’s structure seems to have addressed the impartiality concern by making the commis- sion a freestanding unit outside the office of the governor, although the arrangement is somewhat ambiguous because the KSPC technically reports to both the governor and the SSG, and the lines of separation remain largely untested. [...] The committee structure also allows for a prominent chairperson, who is insulated structurally from the governor’s chain of command, to serve as face of the commission to the public and the media, while the director general (who is also appointed by the governor) focuses on day-to-day peacebuilding operations out of the media’s glare.