North West now ranks highest in mass atrocities – Global Rights

An International rights organisation, Global Rights, has said the North West has the highest number of mass atrocities in Nigeria, a situation they described as unfortunate and unacceptable.

The Programme Manager of Global Rights, Mr Edosa Oviawe, said this on Tuesday in Abuja during a North West regional conference on women peace and security with the theme ‘Promoting Best Practices for Inclusive Security and Peacebuilding Processes in North West Nigeria’.

“North West that used to be at the bottom in ranking in terms of incidents of mass atrocities has suddenly been at the top in the last decade and this is not far from the metalising issues of insecurity that we are having across the country, including banditry.

“So, we have thought how we can begin to get community to take ownership of their own security, how to build their capacity, how to get everybody in the region to work together, and that is what gave birth to the idea of the project we started last year, which is majorly looking at how to rethink the security approach we are having in the region,” Oviawe said.

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Also, the Sultan of Sokoto and President of the Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Alhaji Muhammad Sa’adu Abubakar III, represented by the District Head of Gagi in Sokoto State, Alhaji Sani Umar, said the Sultan was very excited for choosing Sokoto and the North West to benefit from the training of women to improve their well-being as well as engagement in the decision making.