By Uloma Peace Okorie
The Inspector-General of Police, IGP Olatunji Rilwan Disu, has called for a united and intelligence-driven approach to tackling insecurity in Nigeria, warning stakeholders against allowing ethnicity or religion to influence the fight against criminality.
Disu made the call while delivering the opening address at the North-West Security Summit in Gusau, Zamfara State, where he declared that criminality has no ethnicity and terrorism has no religion.
The IGP urged security agencies, governments, traditional rulers and communities to concentrate on identifying and dismantling criminal networks, their sponsors, arms suppliers, informants and other facilitators, regardless of their ethnic, religious or social backgrounds.
According to him, profiling people based on their identity could undermine collective efforts to confront insecurity and divert attention from the actual perpetrators of crime.
The three-day summit, hosted by the Zamfara State Government, brought together governors, traditional rulers, security chiefs, security experts, development partners, civil society organisations and other stakeholders to deliberate on banditry, kidnapping, arms proliferation, communal conflicts and farmer-herder tensions affecting the North-West.
Disu also stressed that no single security agency, government or institution could successfully secure the region alone. He therefore advocated stronger intelligence sharing, inter-state cooperation, coordinated operations, improved border security and effective early-warning systems.
He further highlighted the importance of traditional institutions and local communities in providing credible information to security agencies, noting that community participation remains critical to preventing crime and protecting vulnerable communities.
The IGP reaffirmed the commitment of the Nigeria Police Force to intelligence-led policing, technology-driven operations, rapid response, inter-agency collaboration and stronger partnerships with communities.
He charged participants at the summit to develop practical and measurable resolutions that would translate into improved security, protect citizens and restore public confidence across the North-West.
Observers say the IGP’s emphasis on intelligence, collaboration and non-discriminatory policing reflects the need for security responses to be focused on criminal conduct rather than ethnic or religious identity.