By Ishaq Zaki
An NGO, CLEEN Foundation, has trained 40 Community Peace Monitors (CPM) to complement the efforts of government and security agencies at addressing security challenges in the state.
The Programme Officer, Cleen Foundation, Mr Ebere Mbaegbu, disclosed this at the inauguration of the monitors in Gusau on Thursday.
The theme of the event was “Empowering Grassroots and Governance Structure for Enhanced Community Security”.
Mbaegbu said that the 40 monitors were selected from Gusau and Bungudu Local Government Areas to enhance peace building and conflict resolution in their respective local communities.
“They were trained on peace building and conflict resolution at community level.
“The monitors comprised traditional and religious leaders, youths and women groups, members of the CSOs, CBOs among others.
“They are expected to go back to their various communities to cascade the knowledge they gathered during the training to the people at the local level,” he said.
The programme manager said that the trainees were identified by traditional rulers, security agencies from their various communities as peace ambassadors.
“They will operate as eyes and ears of security agencies in their respected communities.
“They were also trained on security information sharing, security collaboration among other major areas to promote peace and stability.
“The monitors also have the responsibilities to form Community Accountability Forum to bring community members and security stakeholders together to interact and share the information toward addressing various local security challenges,” he added.
In his remarks, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry for Local Government And Chieftaincy Affairs, Malam Yakubu Sanusi, commended Cleen Foundation for enhancing peace and stability at the community level.
Sanusi assured the state government’s readiness to continue partnering with NGOs toward promoting peace and stability in the state.
He called on the participants at the training to work up to expectation, saying, “You have greater role to play in supporting government and security challenges in addressing security challenges in our communities.
“We should be good ambassadors of your respective communities, various institutions and organizations as well as Zamfara, Nigeria as a whole,” he added.
Also, a facilitator at the training, Mrs Hawwa Bako, urged the trainees to ensure useful information sharing to the appropriate authorities through the right channels.
“As peace ambassadors, you must ensure proper information sharing, early warning responses, proper collaboration with all stakeholders especially the security agencies,” she noted.
In their separate remarks, the representatives of security agencies including the police, Department of State Services, Nigerian Army and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence, assured proper collaboration with the monitors.
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