The need for trust building and truthful engagement between the citizens and security agencies in Bauchi state for peaceful coexistence and tolerance has been stressed.
Consequently, a Bauchi based Non Governmental Organisation (NGO), Foundation for Societal Empowerment and Rejuvenation (FOSER) has organized a stakeholders engagement meeting on issues bordering on relationships between the two.
While speaking at the sideline of the one-day event with Journalists in Bauchi on Thursday, Project Manager of the NGO, Bernard Yayock, said that the meeting was also meant to further promote the human rights of both the citizens and security agents operating in the state.
According to him, it is expected that at the end of the event, people will be more enlightened about their fundamental human rights in order to fight any form of brutality from any agents of the Security.
He stressed that, “This is a right stakeholders engagement meeting and we have it in series where we are engaging the relevant institutions and actors in the space of civil rights” .
Bernard Yayock added that, “This engagement meeting is centered on building trust, promotion of human rights between the citizens and the security agencies” .
“At the end of this meeting, we want everybody to be enlightened, aware and sensitized on their fundamental human rights so as to fight against any form of brutality”, he added.
He then highlighted that some of the stakeholders in the engagement meeting to include; the Police, officials from the Department of State Services (DSS), and Road Safety Corps.
Others he said included; religious and traditional leaders, civil society groups, selected youth, women groups, the media, officials of civil right commission and the state’s Legal Aid Council.
According to him, “My message to Bauchi citizens is on the fact that we the citizens should not relent in struggling, we should be resilient in fighting against any form of brutality” .
He also said that, “The security agencies should also note that they have a number of officers that need to be retrained because we believe that there are some of them who don’t know the rights of citizens and their own right as security agents”.
“We expect that the security agencies should create an avenue for training and retraining of their staff,” said the Project Manager.
Also speaking, Bauchi State Police Command PPRO, SP Ahmed Wakili, said that the stakeholders engagement was apt and coming at a time when it was mostly needed.
Ahmed Wakili who said that without the members of the public giving credible intel and the media being the fourth estate of the realm showcasing some of its achievements, added that the police in the state wouldn’t have achieved so much.
He, however, noted that there have been cases of civilians brutalizing police officers, adding that the rights of security agents should also be highly respected.
“If any member of the public has any issue of police brutality in the state, we have our channel of complaint through this phone number: 08036392107 where you can lodge your complaint directly and we’ll take up the matter and find a lasting solution to it,” he said.
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