BY EDITOR
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Community Engagement (South East), Barr. Chioma Nweze, has met with the Minister of Defence, General Christopher Musa (rtd), to chart a new, community-driven security framework aimed at addressing persistent security challenges in the South East.
The high-level meeting, held in Abuja, brought together members of the Presidential Community Engagement Team and senior officials of the Ministry of Defence. Discussions centred on strengthening collaboration through non-kinetic, grassroots-based security strategies designed to complement conventional security operations.
Both parties emphasised that sustainable peace in the South East can only be achieved through active community participation, trust-building, and consistent engagement between citizens and security institutions.
Key areas of deliberation included enhancing intelligence gathering through structured community engagement, improving communication of government security interventions at the grassroots level, relaying community feedback directly to the Ministry of Defence, and deepening trust between security agencies and local populations.
As part of concrete outcomes from the meeting, it was resolved that a joint working team would be established to coordinate regional security summits across the South East. The proposed summits will involve stakeholders from local, state, and federal governments, as well as community leaders and civil society groups.
The summits are expected to provide a platform for citizens to openly express security concerns, share local insights, and contribute to practical, community-informed solutions.
In addition, a direct communication channel was established 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.
The meeting also underscored the need to prioritise youth-focused engagement programmes, aimed at discouraging involvement in activities that fuel insecurity and addressing the socio-economic factors driving unrest in the region.
Speaking after the meeting, Barr. Nweze said the engagement marked a renewed commitment by the Federal Government to inclusive security management and community-led peacebuilding in the South East.
According to her, the partnership aligns with President Bola Tinubu’s broader vision of leveraging community trust, dialogue, and collaboration as essential pillars for achieving lasting peace and national stability.
