South East Stakeholders at Security Summit Advocates Open Grazing
Stakeholders at the Security Summit Enugu advocate for youth employment, state policing, and complete end of open grazing in the South East region as a panacea to curbing insecurity in the region and the nation at large.
The One-Day Summit is organized by the Senate Ad-hoc committee for relevant stakeholders in the South East zone at the International Conference Centre, ICC, Enugu; theme- ‘Strengthening Nigeria’s National Security Architecture: Innovation, Collaboration and Resilience in a Changing World.’
Speaking at the Summit on Thursday, Rt. Hon. Uche Ugwu, Speaker of the Enugu State House of Assembly, emphatically stated that open grazing, unemployment, and centralized policing are major causes of insecurity in the South East of Nigeria.
Reiterating that open grazing is against the peace of the land, Rt. Hon. Ugwu also advocates for intelligence gathering, improved economic conditions for the youth, and fostering trust between the people, security agents, and the government.
“We must adopt a modern technology of keeping livestock. It is only in Nigeria that when you are driving, you often struggle with the roads (highways) that are shared with livestock. It must be addressed.”
“We must invest in intelligence gathering while not neglecting the economic conditions that make our people, especially our young ones, vulnerable to criminal activities,” he said.
“When communities trust their security agencies and when leaders speak with one voice, insecurity loses its strength,” Speaker Enugu State House of Assembly said.
Earlier in his opening speech, the Chairman Senate Ad-hoc Committee on North East/South-East of the 10th Senate National Security Summit 2025, Senator Austin Akobundu, said the meeting is a national dialogue organized to gather first-hand perspectives from citizens and leaders in regions most affected by insecurity in search for a comprehensive and conclusive solution to the lingering insecurity in the country.
Akobundu advocates for peace and dialogue, even in the face of perceived injustice, as the people and community are the most severely affected by insecurity.
“The consequences of such a trend on the victims and the entire populace can only be imagined. Whole communities are traumatized and displaced, farmlands abandoned and schools disrupted.”
“The other grave socio-economic aftermath on our people includes spikes in poverty, hunger, disease, and illiteracy.”
“It is on this note that agitators in the South-East must be made to understand in no uncertain terms that violence solves nothing and can never be a pathway to self-determination. It can only worsen an already bad situation and we are stronger together,” Senator Akobundu reiterates.
Akobundu also condemned the Monday Sit-at-Home and ensuing violence as an enforcement strategy.
“The declaration of Mondays as sit-at-home and the deployment of violence as a strategy by some sections of these agitators have adversely affected the region’s economy and its attendant consequences on our people.”
“We must, therefore, do everything within our powers to restore normalcy to our highly cherished region and create the enabling environment for our people to thrive.”
“The Senate is primed today more than ever before to rely on inputs from this summit to amend and, where necessary, repeal existing laws, and make new comprehensive ones to ensure a more secure and prosperous Nigeria,” Akobundu said.
Relevant stakeholders in attendance, while condemning open grazing, farmer-herder clashes, drug abuse, unlawful possession of ammunition, youth unemployment, and centralized policing, urge the Senate to ensure prompt implementation of the resolutions arrived at the Summit.
Stakeholders in attendance include the Nigerian Army, the Police, the Air Force, the Nigerian Civil Defense Corps, the Correctional Centre, Traditional rulers, the President-General of Communities, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, local government chairmen, farmers, the Forest Guard, and youth groups, among others.
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