Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD)

Yola, Jan. 29, 2021 – Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has called on the Federal Government, and other actors working to end insurgency in the North East, to apply the outcome of its recently concluded research, to succeed.

Mr Hamza Ibrahim, Research and Communication Associate of CITAD, made the call at the public presentation of the policy brief on prospects and challenges of Non-violent resolution of insurgency in the North East, on Friday, in Yola.

He said that the policy brief had documented the outcome of the research sufficiently to provide ways to end the lingering insurgency in the North East that had been on for over 11 years.

“If the current leadership of the security Chiefs lay their hands on this policy brief I am very sure they will find tangible solutions to the insurgency, because there are specific recommendations channeled to government, members of the security services, religious and traditional leaders”, he said.

According to him, the research was conducted in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, which were the focus of the policy brief supported by Managing Conflicts in Nigeria (MCN) of the British Council.

Mr Musa Shalangwa, Lecturer, Department of International Relations, Adamawa State Polytechnic, commended CITAD for the research and its public presentation, while urging participants to pass on the message to others, interested in ending the insurgency.

He appealed to the military to also improve on civil-military relationship towards ensuring that the insurgency came to an end, with the assistance of the community, which knows much about the insurgents, terrain and as such could provide good intelligence, to facilitate success.

In his remarks, Muhammad Sali, Ward Head of Makama-D, Yola, assured that as community leaders, they would pass on the message, pledging their readiness to support the security agencies.

He, however, decried how Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) were being stigmatised in the communities, expressing the need for something to be done to stop the practice.