FG Moves to Tackle South East Insecurity Through Community Engagement
By Nkechinyere Ewa
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Community Engagement (South East), Barrister Chioma Nweze, has met with the Minister of Defence, General Christopher Musa (rtd), to address persistent security challenges in the South East region.
The high-level meeting brought together members of the Presidential Community Engagement Team and senior officials of the Ministry of Defence, with discussions centred on strengthening collaboration through community-driven and non-kinetic security approaches.
Both parties underscored the importance of grassroots participation in addressing insecurity, noting that lasting peace can only be achieved through trust-based engagement between local communities and security institutions.
Key areas of deliberation included improving intelligence gathering through structured community engagement, enhancing communication of government security interventions to grassroots communities, relaying feedback from the people to the Ministry of Defence, and deepening trust between citizens and security agencies.
The meeting also resolved to establish a joint working team to coordinate regional security summits across the South East. The summits will involve stakeholders from the local, state, and federal levels and are expected to provide a platform for citizens to openly present security concerns and contribute to practical solutions.
In addition, a direct communication channel was created between the Ministry of Defence and the Presidential Community Engagement Team to ensure sustained coordination, timely information sharing, and effective follow-up on agreed actions.
Both sides further agreed to prioritise youth-focused engagement and the development of targeted programmes aimed at discouraging involvement in activities that fuel insecurity, while addressing the underlying socio-economic factors driving unrest in the region.
Speaking after the meeting, Barrister Nweze described the partnership as a renewed commitment by the Federal Governmen:t to inclusive security management and community-led peacebuilding in the South East and across the country.
