The Vice President Yemi Osinbajo-led committee that has six state governors as members will engage youths, representatives of civil society organisations (CSOs), religious and traditional leaders on the fallout of the recent #EndSARS protests.
The #EndSARS protests were triggered by the alleged killing of a young man by the operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in Lagos State.
It is understood that the committee, comprising the governors of Sokoto, Borno, Niger State, Ondo, Ebonyi, and Delta, will be engaging the stakeholders on employment, social safety net programmes, and national unity among other key issues.
Development Diaries gathered that the committee will develop a comprehensive framework that would coordinate joint actions and steps to be taken by the federal and state governments to examine the fundamental issues underlining the protests.
The decision was reached at an emergency meeting of the National Economic Council (NEC).
‘Council agreed to embark on an objective framing of a new security and stability architecture for the country supported by the development of a framework of engagement with the youth, civil society and religious leaders’, the council’s communique read.
‘A joint committee was consequently set up by the chairman of council, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, to work with state governments represented by the governors of Ebonyi, Ondo, Niger, Delta, Borno and Sokoto States to implement the resolutions of the emergency meeting’.
It also read, ‘Council affirmed an unequivocal belief and assurance that most members of the nation’s security personnel are law-abiding and are capable of restoring law and order in the country.
‘NEC also supported President Muhammadu Buhari’s commitment to a complete overhaul of the country’s security services by improving the capacity of security officers across the rank and file while providing them with the necessary equipment to carry out their jobs effectively’.
The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu, had said in a statement that the police would work with civil society organisations (CSOs) and rights defenders to investigate cases of alleged human rights violations.
‘The measure, the IGP believes, will enhance transparency and accountability in police services as well as providing a system of deterrence for erring police officers whose action clearly violates the rights of the citizenry’, the statement read.
Source: Laolu Akande
Photo source: Yemi Osinbajo
