BY Dapo Akinrefon
LAGOS — Stakeholders, yesterday, rose from the national summit on security and public awareness, with a call on the Federal Government to be cautious in deploying military personnel to resolve internal crisis.

According to them, deployment of the military to hot spots of internal crisis tends to undermine the police in the eye of the public.

They also called on the government to institute a mechanism of information sharing amongst security agencies and traditional rulers.

These were part of recommendations at the end of a two-day National Stakeholders Summit, organised by the National Orientation Agency, NOA.

In a communique issued at the end of the summit, the stakeholders also made case for the training and equipping of the Nigeria Police to be able to “contain civilian revolts/crisis across the nation.”

The stakeholders also stressed that “a new transformation agenda must be a fresh dedication to good leadership to rekindle the hopes of Nigerians in the future of their country.

Eminent Nigerians who attended the summit include: His Eminence the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammed Sa’ad Abubakar; Shehu of Bornu, Umar Garbai El_Kanemi; Tor –Tiv, Dr. Alfred Akawe Torkula; Asagba of Asaba, Professor Chike Edozien; Obi of Onitsha, Dr. Nnaemeka Achebe and Representative of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Dr. Aderemi Adeniyi.

Also the Minister of Interior, Comrade Abba Patrick Moro; Minister of Information, Comrade Labaran Maku and Minister of Defence, Alhaji Bello Haliru and other stakeholders from the academia, Civil Society groups, attended the summit.

The summit recommended the need for the cultivation of appropriate mechanism for creating security awareness through civic education and mass media communication.

Besides, the summit stressed the need for “broadening the base of economic, social and political participation of the citizenry in the affairs of the nation”, just as it called for “reforming of the criminal justice system to be able to confront the daunting challenges of the democratic dispensation”.

In addition, it called for the establishment of an institutional framework for synergy and information sharing among all segments of the nation’s security organs for efficient service delivery; and continuous partnership and engagement of civil society organizations by security agencies in the management of security”.

Besides, the stakeholders pointed out that the need for concerted efforts to be made by government to “address the issues of hunger, unemployment and poverty by coordinated alleviation measures; developing of curricular for primary, secondary and tertiary institutions on security education and establishing a consultative forum among various stakeholders, the police, security agencies, the civil society and the NOA to serve as anchor where definite matters relating to core values and security are regularly addressed”.

It also emphasized  the need by government to “articulate a policy on child rearing practices where the tutelage of children by their parents in moderating their conduct is reinforced, in other words national service should start from the cradle”.