Samuel Bitrus will tell you without embarrassment that in 2022, he was angry enough to hurt someone. Growing up in Southern Kaduna, he had watched his uncle killed in inter-communal violence, his family’s farmland destroyed, and a decade of government promises deliver nothing. When older men in his community began quietly recruiting young men for retaliatory raids, Samuel was listening.
ENPUAI arrived in his community in October 2022 for an emergency peacebuilding response following a fresh outbreak of violence. One of the facilitators — a young man barely five years older than Samuel — sat with him for two hours. Not lecturing. Just asking questions and listening to the answers.
“He asked me what I actually wanted my life to look like in ten years. Nobody had ever asked me that.” That conversation led Samuel to register for ENPUAI’s youth training programme. He completed it. Then he asked to come back as a volunteer assistant facilitator. Then he applied for the full Community Peace Facilitator Certification.
Today, Samuel is one of ENPUAI’s most trusted field facilitators in Kaduna. He has facilitated over thirty community dialogues across twelve local government areas in Southern Kaduna. He has trained over 400 young men and women in basic conflict resolution. He works closely with ENPUAI’s Early Warning Network, monitoring community tension indicators and reporting to our response team in real time.
In 2024, Samuel was nominated by his LGA as a Youth Representative to the Kaduna State Peacebuilding Agency. He is twenty-four years old.
“ENPUAI did not save me. They showed me I was capable of saving myself — and then others.” — Samuel Bitrus, Peace Facilitator & Youth Representative, Kaduna State