The Nasarawa State Government has sought for the revival of the G-7 security summit, a collaborative effort aimed at protecting lives and property among the six states making up the North Central zone and the FCT.
Nasarawa State Governor, Engineer Abdullahi Sule, made this known while delivering his welcome address during the Nigeria Police North-Central Regional Security Summit, organized by the office of the Inspector-General of Police, which held in Lafia, yesterday.
The joint security meeting among the neighbouring states of Benue, Nasarawa, Niger, Kaduna, Plateau, including the FCT, code named G-7 Security Meeting, came into being in 2007.
The summit afforded an avenue for appraising security situations from different perspectives, aimed at sharing experiences on best approach to effectively manage security challenges among member states and beyond.
Engineer Sule lamented that the G-7 has become dormant due to some reasons.
According to the Governor, the failure of the G-7 to meet has become a source of worry to the state, especially with prevailing security challenges facing the country and the region in particular.
He said there was the need therefore to revive the regional security meeting in order to work together to address emerging security challenges, as according to him, collective action is known to be more effective than individual action.
“Consequently, the Government of Nasarawa State, after due consultation with member states, resolved that the security summit be revived and be held on quarterly basis,” Engineer Sule said.
Commenting on the police summit, Engineer Sule noted that the meeting will no doubt, provide the opportunity for the North-Central region to share experiences, appraise, as well as recommend appropriate measures on security situation for the continued sustenance of peaceful coexistence among the different ethnic groups, not only in the region, but in the country at large.
While commending President Muhammadu Buhari, for evolving different approaches towards addressing security challenges in the country, the Governor however called for a re-strategizing towards combating the resurgence of Boko Haram attacks in the North East, as well as kidnapping and banditry in other parts of the country.
Speaking on the theme of the summit, “Strategic Partnership for Effective Community Policing in the North-Central Zone/FCT”, Engineer Sule said, in a bid to ensuring sustainable peace in the state, government initiated the Community-Based Conflict Resolution Mechanism, to encourage warring parties to come together, discuss their differences, with a view to resolving such amicably.
Earlier in his opening remarks, convener of the joint security summit, the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammad A. Adamu, said the meeting will enable participants to interact and exchange valuable ideas on security issues concerning the region.
The IGP also said the meeting will give him the opportunity to update delegates on the community policing strategy already put in place by the Nigeria Police to mitigate security challenges.
Also speaking and in his keynote address, Professor Habu Galadima, Director-General, National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, made case for evolving a regional policing framework rather than a strategy, which according to him, may not only be cumbersome but may even operate outside the law.
On his part, Tijani Aliyu Ahmed, Secretary to the Nasarawa State Government, in his closing remarks, thanked the IGP and the police for conceiving the security summit.
Ahmed equally commended traditional rulers from the region, for their strategic roles in enhancing community policing.
In attendance at the security summit where all the six governors from the states making up the North-Central zone, former governors of Nasarawa State, members of the National Assembly, Deputy Inspector Generals of Police, Assistant Inspector Generals of Police, Commissioners of Police from the zone, Secretaries to the State Governments, security administrators and traditional rulers, amongst others
