The security challenges afflicting Nigeria can only be stemmed if all stakeholders across the broad spectrum of society, collaborate and pool their professional and experiential resources together.
Government and its agencies, according to a former minister of Abuja, Senator Jeremiah Useni, should not be left alone to bear the sole responsibility of articulating panaceas for safeguarding the country.
The elder statesman, former military governor of the old Bendel State, and retired Lt. General, spoke at the inauguration of the various sub-committees under the auspices of North Central Peoples Forum, NCPF, charged with the planning of a Security Summit.
Alluding to the various security problems bedevilling the North Central, Gen Useni, noted that the zone was hitherto an oasis of peace and harmonious coexistence.
Recent incidents of kidnapping, killings and armed attacks have, however, made it imperative for elders, leaders and statesmen from the zone, to come together with a view to join in interrogating the unfortunate trend in the zone, with a view to finding enduring solutions.
Useni, a former senator representing Plateau State, who is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Forum, noted that the Forum is “non partisan, non-religious and non-ethnic” and is specifically “committed to the promotion of the ideals, aims and objectives, development, progress and unity of the North Central Zone” as espoused in the Constitution of the Forum.
In his own contribution, Chairman of the Central Planning Committee of the Security Summit, Senator Ibrahim Mantu, observed that the members of the various sub-committees were selected on account of their track record, experience and commitment to the ideals enunciated by the Forum and its Constitution.
He charged the various sub-committees to swing into action as soon as possible, because of the near approach of the Summit.
Mantu, a former Deputy Senate President during the regime of President Olusegun Obasanjo, enjoined the committees to organise a Summit which will ginger other geopolitical zones into action, in the collective search for a peaceful and harmonious country, where every citizen feels a sense of pride.
Chief of Staff to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Prince Olusola Akanmode, noted that “this is a Summit which should have taken place yesterday, in a manner of speaking. This therefore speaks to the urgency and immediacy with which the planning should be expedited.”
Secretary General of the North Central Peoples Forum and Chairman of the Governing Board of the National Orientation Agency, Khaleel Bolaji, reminded the committee leaders that their submissions must be received within one week from Monday.
Members of six committees were inaugurated namely: Finance; Contact and Mobilisation; Logistics; Publicity; Venue and Protocol and Security. Chairmen and Secretaries of the various sub-committees include former Governors of Kwara and Nasarawa States, Abdulfatah Ahmed and Tanko Al Makura respectively; former military governor of Plateau and Katsina states, Maj Gen Lawrence Onoja and former Adviser to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Dr Tunde Olusunle.