LAGOS, Nigeria – Youth groups and Community Development Associations (CDAs), have called for inclusion in the security system in Nigeria, especially Lagos, in order to address the high rate of insecurity.
The stakeholders spoke on the second day of a security workshop of the Executive Intelligence Management Course (EIMC) 18 of the National Institute For Security Studies, organised by the Lagos State government and National Institute for Security Studies (NISS), which held in Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria.
The theme was: ‘Non-State Actors in Security Management Issues, Challenges and Project for Peace and Development in Africa’.
The Chairman, National Youth Council of Nigeria, NYCN, Lagos chapter, Adigun Ibrahim, said for the government to address the issue of insecurity, the youths must be carried along in the security architecture.
“The government must carry the youths along in any conversation relating to security. They must engage the youths across the board. Security agencies have the responsibility to change the orientation of our youths by conducting themselves professionally in the discharge of their duties because the young generation already have negative impressions about the security agencies. Youths need to be re-orientated,” he said.
He added: ” Youths also have the reliability to change the country. There should be consistent engagement from the government. There should also be youth watchdogs in all 57 local councils in Lagos State. The collaboration between government and the youths should show clear intentions on what we want to achieve.
Olufemi Ojo, who represented Community Development Associations, CDAs, in Alimosho local government area, said stemming insecurity from the communities is the responsibility of CDAs, as they are the closest to the grassroots.
He noted that by mobilising and sensitising people in the community, criminal elements could be fished out and handed over to security agents.
“As CDAs, we should be alive to what we do. Like we say at CDA level, ‘if you see something, say something.’ Our major responsibility is to gather intelligence and escalate it. We put gates in our streets, have security lights and cameras. We galvanise community members to make them understand what we do and we have sincere CDA officials who collect money from the community and use them for purposes they are meant for.”
“Government needs to collaborate more with CDAs and CDCs to tackle insecurity across the state and the country at large,” he added.
Ojo commended the organisers of the workshop adding that information gathered will.go a long way in helping government tackle insecurity in the country.
Earlier, on the first day of the workshop, participants such as traditional rulers and labour organisations blamed the high rate of insecurity on failure on the part of government to tackle corruption to the barest minimum, and their inability to mete out punishment to those accused of corruption, which encouraged other citizens to see it as a way of life; and, as such, were prepared to go to any length to get rich.
