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From Scholastica Hir, Makurdi
The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), in collaboration with Lawyers Alert, has called on governments, the media and community leaders to strengthen people-centred approaches to safety and security in Benue State.
The organizations made the call during a capacity enhancement workshop on “Promoting Safety and Security Rights, Accountability and Access to Justice” organised for members of Community Policing Committees (CPCs) in the state.
Speaking at the workshop, Senior Programmes Officer of SERAP, Folashade Arigbadu, said the training was part of the organisation’s People-Centred Public Safety Project, aimed at strengthening the capacity of communities to protect themselves while ensuring that their actions conform with the law.
Arigbadu said the project was being implemented in Benue and Bayelsa states following preliminary research which identified peculiar safety and security challenges in the two states.
“We are here in Benue to carry out capacity enhancement for community members. The project is titled ‘People-Centred Public Safety’.
“We are not here to teach people about safety and security. The natural human instinct already tells people how to protect themselves and put measures in place.
“We want to understand how people in Benue, particularly in Guma and Katsina-Ala Local Government Areas, have been managing their safety on their own and how we can enhance that capacity to ensure that it is within the law and can also yield results,” she said.
According to her, the project will gradually be extended to other local government areas in Benue, including Agatu, as part of efforts to develop community-based responses to the state’s security challenges.
She explained that the Community Policing Committees were established to bring together representatives of various groups within local government areas, including traditional rulers, religious leaders, women and youth leaders, as well as security agencies.
Arigbadu said the committees were expected to serve as a link between communities and security agencies by monitoring activities, identifying threats and communicating early warning signs to the appropriate authorities.
She said “The Police Act provides for community policing and also provides for the constitution of Community Policing Committees (CPC). The CPC is a representative of different community groups in a local government comprising of traditional rulers, religious leaders, women leaders, youth leaders and security agencies.
“The idea is for these stakeholders to interface with security agencies on behalf of their community members. This will help them to be vigilant, monitor movements and activities in their communities and communicate early warning signs to security agencies on behalf of their people,” she said.
The SERAP official said the organization, in partnership with Lawyers Alert, had conducted series of training sessions to educate community representatives on their responsibilities, rights and how to demand accountability from institutions responsible for protecting them.
She said the training was also designed to help community members understand that they had the right to ask questions about resources allocated for public safety when insecurity persisted in their communities.
She said “At the end of the day, we want to see a capacity enhancement that opens their eyes to the fact that there is something called security votes. If the governor has such money to protect the people and people are still feeling insecure, they have the right to ask questions.”
She added that the concerns raised by participants about communities without police stations demonstrated the need for citizens to understand their rights, the appropriate authorities to approach and the mechanisms available for demanding accountability.
Also speaking, Adviser, Legal, Lawyers Alert, Solumtochukwu Ozobulu, took participants through “Community Safety and Security Rights,” while Assistant Team Lead, Legal, SERAP, Oluwakemi Agunbiade, spoke on the “Practical Use of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act as a Legal Remedy for Safety.”
During the workshop, some participants expressed concern over what they described as inadequate government supervision and monitoring of security personnel deployed to the highways and rural communities.
They alleged that the activities of some security personnel had contributed to rights violations in some communities, while bandits sometimes operated freely without adequate intervention.
The participants, however, acknowledged the efforts of security agencies in tackling insecurity across the state and called for stronger supervision, accountability and improved coordination between security agencies and communities.
They commended SERAP and Lawyers Alert for organizing the training, saying it had equipped them with greater knowledge of their rights and responsibilities and strengthened their capacity to advocate for the safety and security of their communities.
