Alhaji Aliyu Mohammed, Northern Regional Director of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), has urged community members to prioritise volunteering information to the security agencies to help in the response against violent extremism in the country.
He urged stakeholders and community members to join forces with government, saying the country’s security was under threat by the activities of violent extremists in neighbouring countries such as Burkina Faso, Togo, and Mali.
Alhaji Mohammed made the call at an engagement forum to sensitise some identifiable youth groups in the Sagnarigu Municipality of the Northern Region on measures to take during attack from violent extremists.
The engagement formed part of the implementation of the European Union sponsored project dubbed: “Preventing and Containing Violent Extremism (PCVE)”, which is being implemented by the NCCE.
Alhaji Mohammed said, “The fight against the activities of violent extremism is not the sole responsibility of the security and other law enforcement agencies but a shared responsibility.”
Mr Abdulai Soale, Sagnarigu Municipal Director of NCCE, sensitised participants on the need for skills development, community surveillance and how to identify possible signs of radicalisation in their communities.
Mr Soale called for the formation of neighbourhood watchdog or community patrols to strategise on containing any possible attack from the extremists.
Reverend Theophilus Ibrahim Dokurugu, Immediate past Vice President of the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding, urged the youth to play integral part towards curbing the proliferation of arms, and said it had the tendency to advance the activities of extremists.
He also urged community members to prioritise peaceful coexistence and social cohesion to help identify suspected people or activities that posed threat to their safety and security.
He urged religious leaders to intensify advocacy and awareness creation in their worship centres to better equip their members with the needed information on how to identify and report any extremist acts to the security agencies.
Participants expressed their commitment to sustaining the prevailing peace, and called on government to engage and create more employment opportunities for the youth through skills development to prevent them from being lured into the extremist activities.
