Insecurity in the North: Unimaid Held Policy Dialogue with CSOs, Media and Bar
By Bashir Hassan Abubakar
Concerned by the worsening security challenges bedevilling most of Northern Nigeria and the need for all hands to be on deck to proffer solutions, the University of Maiduguri Centre for Peace, Diplomatic and Development Studies (CPDDS) in partnership with MacArthur Foundation, have held a week long Dialogue with Civil Society Organizations (CSOs ), Media and legal practitioners in Kano, to fashion out ways on how to advocate to Government at all levels, towards mitigating the menace of insecurity and the human rights abuses inherent in such situations.
The director of the centre Dr. Sule M. Tagi, in a welcome address , said that even though the participants are not security experts, their selection is based on their their ability to carry out sound advocacy and bring to fore the challenges of insecurity and human rights abuses in some northern states of Nigeria.
According to Dr. Tiga, the dialogue might come up with better ideas that can be adopted by the Government as a policy, in bringing an end to challenges of insecurity and human rights abuses in the intended region.
“We should be free to express our views and proffer solutions in an effort to address security challenges in the North”, said Dr. Tiga.
While giving an overview of the project, a resource person from the centre Dr.Haruna Ayuba said that the objective of the project was to, among other things, documents human rights abuses in the security challenged areas of parts of the north and conduct public dialogues on the security challenges.
Other areas of focus, according to Dr. Ayuba includes research into security challenges and to proffer policy options and also where necessary, undertake public interest litigation for victims of human rights abuses /violations.
In his presentation, another resource person from the centre, Professor Abubakar Mu’azu said that the security situation in the Northern part of Nigeria has reached an alarming stage that most people live in fear and uncertainty of their safety.
Professor Mu’azu who pointed out that the search for solutions to the security challenges have been ongoing, decry that, “despite all efforts, it appears that the situation continues to spread in ways unimagined before”.
He further disclosed that the security challenges have also brought to the fore of public discussions the inherent human rights issues of the people affected by such challenges.
Mu’azu stressed that, “ these violations have continued to raise concerns about the capacity and readiness of the Nigerian state to protect life and property which is the fundamental social contract between citizens and state.
Participants were divided into groups with specific areas to focus on and proffer recommendations.
A participant Mr. Yusuf Anka from Zamfara State, who spoke to our correspondent said such policy dialogues should be sustained, “because it is in such fora that citizens have an avenue to express themselves and all also share experiences”.
Anka said that he hope government will pay attention to the outcome of the Policy Dialogue and adopts the recommendations of the participants.
Our correspondent reports that the policy dialogue, organized by the CPDDS with funding from MacArthur Foundation, attracted participants from the CSOs, Media and the Bar.