The Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu, has call for a coordinated, intelligence-led and community-supported approach to tackling insecurity in Nigeria’s North-West region.
Disu made the call while delivering the opening address at the North-West Security Summit in Gusau, Zamfara State.
According to a statement by the Force Public Relations Officer CSP Ani Iniedu, made available to the Press in Abuja, the three-day summit, hosted by the Zamfara State Government, brought together governors, traditional rulers, security chiefs, security experts, development partners, civil society organisations and other stakeholders to deliberate on banditry, kidnapping, arms proliferation, communal conflicts, farmer-herder tensions and other security challenges confronting the region.
The IGP said no single security agency, government or institution could effectively secure the North-West alone, stressing the need for stronger intelligence sharing, inter-state cooperation and coordinated security operations.
He also called for improved border security, effective early-warning mechanisms and deeper engagement with local communities, noting that traditional institutions and residents have important roles to play in providing credible intelligence and supporting crime prevention.
Disu cautioned stakeholders against ethnic and religious profiling in the fight against insecurity, stressing that criminality should not be associated with any particular ethnic or religious group.
“Criminality has no ethnicity and terrorism has no religion,” he said, urging security agencies and other stakeholders to focus on identifying and prosecuting criminal networks, their sponsors, arms suppliers, informants and facilitators, regardless of their background or affiliation.
The IGP reaffirmed the commitment of the Nigeria Police Force to intelligence-led policing, technology-driven operations, rapid response, inter-agency collaboration and community partnership.
He charged participants at the summit to ensure that its deliberations produced practical and measurable resolutions capable of strengthening security, protecting vulnerable communities and restoring public confidence across the North-West.
The summit is expected to provide a platform for stakeholders to develop coordinated strategies to address the region’s persistent security challenges.
