By Abbanobi -Eku Onyekachi, Abuja
The Senate has announced plans to hold meetings with critical stakeholders in each geo-political zone to address the country’s security concerns. The upper chamber aims to identify the root causes of the menace and devise pragmatic measures to restore peace and stability in troubled areas.
According to Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, Leader of the Senate and Chairman of the Senate Ad-hoc Committee on National Security Summit: “No amount of money invested in infrastructure development will translate to any meaningful outcome without peace and security.”
The committee will engage with stakeholders, including traditional institutions, government agencies, and local communities, to find solutions to the security challenges.
The Senate leader highlighted the various security challenges facing different regions of the country, including banditry and kidnapping in the North-west, terrorism and extremist violence in the North-east, farmers-herders crisis in the North-central, separatism and gang violence in the South-east, environmental conflict and oil theft in the South-south, and abduction and ritual killing in the South-west.
The committee’s objective is to ensure that every Nigerian lives and works in peace, irrespective of their location and status in life. To achieve this, the committee will hold meetings with critical stakeholders, engage victims of armed violence, and interact with local communities to gather their perspectives and suggestions on how to transform insecurity to effective order.
The committee will engage with a wide range of stakeholders, including traditional institutions, government agencies, military and intelligence/security agencies, local government, the media, and other public-spirited individuals and groups. The goal is to come up with far-reaching measures that will bring about peace and stability in the country.
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