Police in Nigeria’s seven North-West states have agreed on a more coordinated and aggressive, intelligence-led response to banditry.
This will involve taking operations into criminal enclaves and strengthening ties with traditional and religious leaders.
The resolutions followed a two-day regional security summit in Gusau, Zamfara State.
For more than a decade, banditry has devastated communities across Nigeria’s North-West, killing residents, forcing families from their homes and disrupting livelihoods.
After two days of deliberations in Gusau, police commanders and other security stakeholders say the response must now become more coordinated, intelligence-driven and proactive.
The summit brought together the Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu, Zamfara State Governor Dauda Lawal, Commissioners of Police from the seven North-West states, traditional and religious leaders and other stakeholders.
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At the centre of the discussions was how to move security operations beyond reacting to attacks, towards disrupting criminal networks and taking the fight into banditry enclaves.
The communique which was presented by the Zamfara State Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Bello, places intelligence sharing and joint operations among the priorities, alongside stronger engagement with communities, traditional rulers and religious leaders whose local knowledge could support early warning and crime prevention.
For Governor Lawal, however, the test will not be the resolutions reached in Gusau, but what happens after the summit. He challenged security chiefs to translate the commitments into action.
Lawal pledged continued government support for security agencies, as authorities seek to restore stability in Zamfara and across the wider region.
For communities that have endured years of attacks, abductions and displacement, the expectations are clear. The resolutions have been made. The challenge now is turning the resolutions into security on the ground.
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(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
