By: Bashir Hassan Abubakar
The Bauchi State Police Command hosted a high-powered Security Stakeholders Engagement and Consultative Meeting featuring the Coordinating Deputy Inspector General of Police for the North East, DIG Zachariah Fera Achinyan, and DIG Ibrahim Baba Zango.
The strategic forum brought together a diverse group of community gatekeepers, including government officials, traditional and religious leaders, heads of sister security agencies, academics, and civil society organizations. The primary objective of the meeting was to review ongoing crime-fighting initiatives, identify emerging threats, and forge stronger community partnerships across the state.
During the session, both DIGs emphasized that effective policing relies heavily on community trust and proactive participation. DIG Achinyan described policing as a “social contract” that requires timely information sharing from the public to dismantle criminal networks. Supporting this view,
DIG Zango stressed the importance of early warning systems and challenged traditional and religious leaders to serve as the first line of defense, noting that “security is local before it becomes national.”
In response, stakeholders pledged their renewed commitment to grassroots mobilization and intelligence gathering, offering to establish dedicated neighborhood security efforts.
To sustain the momentum, Bauchi State Commissioner of Police CP Sani-Omolori Aliyu thanked the visiting leadership and announced that the Command will institutionalize quarterly stakeholders’ engagements across all 20 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Bauchi State to ensure continuous, community-driven safety strategies.
