The Inspector General of Police, IGP, Mohammed Abubakar Adamu, along with Governors of Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe states, National Assembly members, Army on Tuesday met in Maiduguri, Borno State to discuss security situation in the region.
Others at the meeting include para-military commanders, traditional rulers, elders, academics and civil societies from all the states.
The security summit was organized by the IGP and hosted by Governor Babagana Umara Zulum of Borno.
At the summit heads of all security establishments, traditional rulers, civil societies and humanitarian actors took turns to give updates of security situations in each of the six states while questions were asked and suggestions made by diverse participants.
Governor Zulum and Mai Mala Buni of Borno and Yobe states were in attendance while deputy governors of Adamawa, Bauchi and Gombe represented their governors. Taraba was represented by a commissioner.
In his welcome address, the Inspector general of police, Adamu said the summit was part of police strategy of enhancing multi-stakeholder participation towards increased synergy and community policing.
Governor Zulum called on the police to be deliberate in the deployment of recently recruited police personnel to strategic locations in their states of origin in order to leverage on their understanding of their localities for effective policing.
The Governor also called on the military to be firm in taking battles to the door step of the insurgents while pledging his commitment to continued provision of logistics to the military and other security establishments operating in Borno State.
Yobe’s Governor, Buni said there was need to device ways to actively explore and engage the insurgents in dialogue as records show that “no conflict of this nature anywhere in the world has ever been resolved solely by military means”.
Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, represented by Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume from Borno, called on the need for the National Assembly to increase allocation proposed by the federal executive arm in the 2020 budget currently before the national assembly.
Traditional rulers from the states in the northeast, led by the Shehu of Borno, Abubakar Ibn Umar Garbai Al-Amin Elkanemi called on the need for traditional rulers to be involved in the recruitment of volunteers seeking to contribute to the fight against insurgency, in order to enhance government’s existing system of recruitment that guarantees the non involvement of questionable characters.
The summit, which is still ongoing, is expected to produce a communique by the time it likely ends at night.
