Security: Police pledge support to Gombe state Govt
By Auwal Umar, Gombe
The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has pledged unalloyed support to the government of Gombe state.
The Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Usman Alkali Baba gave this pledge on Tuesday at the 3-Day Gombe State Security and Peace Summit organized under the theme – ‘Mitigating Contemporary Security Challenges for Sustainable Development in Gombe State.
According to the IGP, the summit was coming at a time when the Nigeria Police was working towards deepening the engagement of the concept of Community Partnership, Technology-driven policing, and an intelligence-based model in mitigating the current internal security challenges in the country.
Baba said the policing strategy seeks to address security challenges through active citizens’ engagement in the identification, analysis, and mitigation of threats, and to actualize it, the communities and strategic stakeholders have critical roles to play.
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The police boss said the Force considers it imperative that community leaders, community-based associations, local community groups, and all citizens are actively engaged in feeling their pulse, evolving a common synergy, and presenting a common front to contain security challenges that are threatening the communal peace, safety, and security.
He expressed optimism that during the 3-day Summit, all issues of security importance will be extensively discussed, and effective strategies to address them identified.
The IGP called on the resource persons and participants to pay utmost attention to matters such as building trust between communities and the police, the role of citizens in providing actionable criminal information, and strategies for strengthening partnerships among various security agencies and the communities they serve.
While lauding Gombe as one of the states in the Federation with the least incidences of violent crimes, Alkali Baba said the dynamic nature of the crime makes it imperative that they continue to partner in evolving strategies that will constantly place them above the criminal elements, adding that it was the only pathway towards maintaining the stable internal security order in Gombe State.
Appreciating the state governor, Muhammad Yahaya Inuwa for the initiative of the summit, Alkali Baba encouraged all stakeholders to build on the outcome of the engagement in the overriding security interest of the state.
Also speaking Governor, Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya says the peace and security summit convened by his administration will provide an opportunity for security personnel, government officials, and other strategic stakeholders in the maintenance of law and order to aggregate and explore pressing internal issues to identify new security and community pathways of mitigating them for lasting peace and stability.
The Governor observed that given the theme of the summit and the caliber of resource persons invited as well as its participants, the summit will chart a new direction for mitigating internal security matters not only here in Gombe State but the country as a whole.
“We are all aware that our dear country is passing through a delicate period of immense security and economic challenges and risks. Criminal elements all over the country are united in their determination to threaten our common values, destroy our means of livelihood and make life brutish and miserable for our people.
Since the year 2010, our gallant security forces have been battling to contain a brutal insurgency waged by the Boko Haram terrorists in Borno which rapidly spread to other states in the North-East, North-Central, and North-West Subregions. Although the collective efforts of our men and women in uniform have succeeded in stopping the bombing campaigns of the Boko Haram insurgents, the colossal human and economic damage caused to our communities is still with us”.
He noted that while the country was struggling to arrest the menace of Boko Haram in the North-East, another security threat in the form of rural banditry, emerged in some parts of North-Central and North-Western Nigeria with a significant impact on human and economic well-being.
“To develop this partnership, it is critical that we gain the support, understanding, and cooperation of strategic stakeholders in the state.
Also important is building a consensus between strategic security stakeholders and the security agencies on both preventive actions and how to respond to crime situations.
It is my candid hope that this summit will recommend practical steps to be taken to achieve all these Thus, your inputs, experiences, and suggestions are really important to both achieving the objectives of this Security and Peace Summit and to improving our internal security management system generally”.
Keynote speaker and Inspector General of Police IGP Usman Baba Alkali observed that the theme of the Security Summit “Mitigating Contemporary Security Challenges for Sustainable Socio-Economic Development” would not have come at a better time when the country is battling with security challenges on all fronts.
He said the Gombe State peace and security Summit is equally coming at a critical time when the Nigerian Police Force under his leadership is working towards deepening the engagement of the concept of community partnership in crime control.
He said the policy strategy seeks to address security challenges through active citizen engagement in the identification, analysis, and mitigation of threats.
IGP Alkali said community engagement like the Gombe State peace and security summit by the state government falls perfectly within the framework of the vision of community policing.
“To this extent, the Nigerian Police Force conveys its full and wholehearted support to the Government of Gombe State under the leadership of Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya for the vision in convening this strategic summit”.
Earlier in his address of welcome, the Secretary to the Gombe State Government, Professor Ibrahim Abubakar Njodi described the 1st Gombe State peace and security summit as historic where it underscores the untiring efforts of the present administration of Governor Inuwa Yahaya towards the protection of lives and property of the citizenry.
He expressed gratitude to security Agencies in the State for working assiduously to maintain the peace in Gombe which has so far placed the State as the most peaceful in the North East sub-region.
There were goodwill messages from the GOC 3rd Armoured Division Nigerian Army, the Emir of Gombe, Dr. Abubakar Shehu Abubakar ll.
Shortly after the formal declaration of the summit open, Governor Inuwa Yahaya in the company of the Inspector General of Police Usman Baba Alkali and other top Government functionaries commissioned operational vehicles provided by the Gombe state government to maintain law and order in the State in an initiative code-named “Operation Hattara”.
