Insecurity: NBC Partners Stated Govts

Onuminya Innocent in Sokoto

To contain incessant insecurity and ensure economic cooperation and integration on the African continent, National Boundary Commission (NBC), has collaborated with seven state governments in the north that share boundaries with Niger Republic, to contain the menace.

In a one-day workshop that was held yesterday in Sokoto for the creation of Nigeria’s Platform for Local Border Authorities Along Nigeria-Niger International Boundary, with the theme “Transforming Borders from Barriers of separation to bridges of cooperation and integration,” which was predicated on the need by the federal government to proactively harness the abundant human resources for peace building nationwide.

The NBC’s Director General, Mr. Adamu Adaji, charged the participants to be purveyors of peace in their domains, stressing that promoting peaceful coexistence should be everybody’s concern.

Adaji said that the platform would be replicated across all frontiers, stating that it could serve as a veritable tool for translating decisions of the Border Governors Forum (BGF) into concrete actions and also serve as vehicle for regular engagement of local authorities and traditional institutions, as well as neighbouring countries.

He further explained that Nigeria’s seven states with twenty-one local governments share borders with Niger Republic.

 In his remarks, the Deputy Governor of Sokoto State, Mr. Idris Muhammad Gobir, who is also the chairman of the SBC,  noted the coming to being of the platform was an indication by the federal government to sustain synergy among critical stakeholders through regular engagement to strengthen enduring relationships.

According to him, the initiative would also serve as a medium to mitigate the daunting challenges being faced at the border communities by instituting projects of common benefits geared towards enhancing existing ties with “our neighbours and uplifting the standard of living among border community dwellers.”

He said that the Sokoto State Government was making efforts to tackle insecurity in the border towns orchestrated by banditry in those areas.

On his part, the Executive Secretary of Border Communities Development Agency (BCDA), Mr. Junaid Abdullahi, who was represented by Director of Planning, Inter-Governmental and Community Relations, Mr. Sadiq Abdullahi, pledged his organisation’s continued partnership with relevant bodies towards the implementation of effective border management policies as enshrined in the agency’s Strategic Action Plan (BCDA-SAP) for the development of all border communities in the country.

The deputy governors of Kebbi, Katsina and Jigawa States, along with the representative of that of Zamfara, Borno and Yobe States and representative of His Eminence Sultan of Sokoto Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar 111, attended the programme.