During my submission, the Senior Special Assistant to President Tinubu on Community Engagement North-West, Hon. Abdullahi Yakasai, emphasized the need for community policing as security is everyone’s responsibility. The perpetrators of these crimes are within the communities and so we as citizens must ensure that people coming to live in communities are thoroughly watched to ensure that they are low abiding and where they exhibit suspicious behaviors, they must be reported to authorities immediately.

The high-level meeting, held in Abuja, had in attendance senior officials of the Ministry of Defence, with discussions focused on strengthening collaboration through community-driven and non-kinetic security strategies.At the engagement, SSAP’s emphasized the critical role of communities participation in tackling insecurity and bringing about sustainable peace that can only be achieved through trust-based engagement between communities and security institutions.Key areas of deliberation included enhancing intelligence gathering through structured community engagement, improving the communication of government security interventions to local communities, relaying the community information feedback to the Ministry, and deepening trust between citizens and security agencies.The meeting, resolved to establish a joint working team that will coordinate regional security summits across the Sis regions, involving local, state, and federal government stakeholders.

The summits are expected to provide a platform for citizens to openly present security concerns and contribute to practical solutions.In addition, a direct communication channel was established between the Ministry of Defence and the Presidential Community Engagement Team to ensure sustained coordination, timely information sharing, and effective follow-up on agreed actions.

Both sides further agreed to prioritise engagement and the development of targeted programmes aimed at positively engaging youths, discouraging their involvement in activities that fuel insecurity, and addressing the underlying socio-economic factors driving unrest.The partnership marks a renewed commitment by the Federal Government to inclusive security management and community-led peacebuilding efforts especially in the Northwest and across the country which is in line with the renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR.

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