Killings: Ahmadu Bello Foundation sets up dialogue committee

The Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation has set up dialogue committee to intervene in the various conflicts in the North, to stem the tide of killings and disruptions.
The Chairman, Board of Trustees of the foundation, Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Kaduna.
He said that dialogue remained key in addressing any security challenge, adding that the foundation believes that “pre-emptive measures need to be adopted and innovative ways developed to end the killings”.
Aliyu added: “We have visited some of the people affected by the crisis to have first-hand information. We have visited Benue Taraba, Borno, Sokoto and we are waiting to go to Yobe.”
Aliyu, a former governor of Niger, attributed most of the crisis to over population and failure of government to plan well on how to manage the daily needs of the growing population.
He dismissed insinuations that the growing crisis was instigated by those who did not want the present administration to succeed or that it was a campaign targeted at any particular religion.
The foundation chairman said they had completed plans to also reach out traditional rulers to be part of the search for peace in the region, stressing that the various state governments must involve the traditional institution in their state security architecture.
He said that government at all level must adopt the leadership style of late Sir Ahmadu Bello, Premier of the defunct Northern Region, who treated all without bias.
He said: “He used values of honesty and good governance as well as some variables to bring the north together without recourse to tribal, political or religious sentiments.”
Aliyu disclosed that the board of the foundation had met on Tuesday and agreed to pursue the peace initiative across the region.
Aliyu said: “We also looked at the issue of police in ratio to the population, need for training and retraining of security agencies and their pay and incentives to encourage them to put on extra efforts and be patriotic in their duties.
“Training and retraining will make them understand that patriotism means that they appreciate that they work for the nation first before looking at the government of the day.
“Yes the government of the day represent the nation but patriotism requires that even if you are instructed to do the wrong thing you will able to stand your ground and say that it is wrong for the nation.”