The Federal University of Lafia, (FULafia), on Tuesday, hosted an international conference to proffer sustainable solutions to the rising insecurity across Nigeria and the West African sub-region.
The 2-day conference, themed ‘Insecurity and Sustainable Development: Multidisciplinary Pathway to Peace, Stability and National Transformation, brought together scholars, security chiefs, policymakers, civil society groups, and traditional rulers to discuss intelligence sharing, community policing, and policy reforms.
Declaring the conference open Prof. Mohamed Isa-Kida, Vice Chancellor (VC) of the university said universities must move beyond theory to provide evidence-based solutions to national problems.
He noted that the theme is both timely and critical at a time when insecurity is no longer simply a security challenge, it has profound consequences for education, agriculture, the economy, public health, governance and social cohesion.
He explained that the complexity of insecurity requires solutions that go beyond the boundaries of just a single discipline or sector.
“As a university, we must promote Multidisciplinary research, evidence-based policymaking and collaboration among academia, government, security institutions, communities, civil society and the private sector.
“Insecurity has become a major threat to development and as an institution, we are determined to lead conversations that will translate research into policy and practical solutions,” the VC stated.
On his part, Prof. Illemona Adofu, Chairman of the organising committee of the conference said insecurity in Nigeria wears many faces, banditry, kidnapping for ransom, farmer-herder conflict, insurgency, communal violence, cybercrime among others.
He further explained that there is insecurity of poverty and unemployment adding that each of these has a cost that is measured in lives lost, resources lost and property destroyed.
“It is also measured in the school that never gets built, the farm that lies fallow because it is too dangerous to plant, the investor who takes their capital elsewhere, and the researcher whose brilliant ideas cannot reach the communities because the roads are unsafe,” he added.
He therefore said that participants would interrogate rigourously and honestly the roots and dynamics of insecurity, to examine what genuine inclusive and sustainable development requires to address the rising insecurity in the country.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) report that the conference featured keynote address by Maj.-Gen. Victor Ebhaleme (Rtd.), former Director, Faculty of Joint Studies, Armed Forces Command and Staff College and Paper Presentation by Prof. Shola Omotola, former Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Academic, Federal University Oye-Ekiti among others. (NAN).