Edo State indigenes have created UNUEDO Renaissance, a group of professionals, aimed at supporting the government to find solutions to insecurity in the state.
The group had held its first webinar recently with a focus on issues and challenges bedevilling the state to find workable immediate, medium to long-term solutions to them.
In a communiqué issued at the end of the event, the group disclosed that it drew participation from across the globe and that members raised their concerns about the need to make the state safe and secure for indigenes and visitors to thrive.
The President, Nuhu Yakubu, who welcomed participants to the maiden webinar series, said the aim was to offer a platform for the security personnel in Edo to discuss developments and compare notes with indigenes and residents.
The ultimate aim, he continued, was to enable cross-pollination of ideas towards finding a workable solution to the challenge.
Participants appreciated UNUEDO for organising the event as well as commended the various stakeholders.
“Participants generally agreed that there still are serious security challenges in Edo State, but appreciated the various efforts at making the state safe and secure for all. There was a consensus that security is everyone’s responsibility and that all should be security conscious, hence the need to support the efforts of members of the Edo State Community Vigilante Security Network (volunteer vigilantes) who were highly commended.
“The need to fashion a workable solution to the security challenge in Edo State was agreed upon, given its effects on investments, commerce, industry, agro-allied activities, commuters and the socio-cultural lives of the people. There were also calls for proper profiling and background checking in the process of recruiting prospective members into the various community-based vigilante groups.
“Participants also called for an adequate multi-layer structure (unit, district and zonal) for enhanced monitoring to identify and flush out notorious vigilante team members, as a deterrent to all others. The webinar also noted the need for government and security agencies to partner, support and unify the operations of the various local vigilante groups for effective coordination and more efficient service delivery.
“They called for improved synergy between the community-based vigilantes and the police, in such areas as joint patrolling and surveillance of various communities within their catchment areas on a continuous and sustainable basis, to cement an established handshake between the police and local vigilantes,” the communiqué read.
