By Johnson Eyiangho, Abuja

State Governments in the North West geo-political zone have been called upon to give priority attention to the issues of poverty, unemployment, injustice and lack of infrastructure as a means of tackling insecurity in the region.

They were also urged to set up a regional security outfit to compliment the efforts of the conventional security agencies in combating the menace of banditry and other forms of security challenges in the area.

The call is contained in a communique issued at the end of a one-day “International Symposium on Pathways to Enhance Security and Conflict Resolution: North West and Middle East in Perspective”, and available to newsmen over the weekend.

It was organised by the Centre for Peace Studies, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto.

The communique noted that insecurity challenges in the northwest region of the country was associated with abject poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, bad governance and inadequate provision of social and economic infrastructures by governments.

It, therefore, recommended the composition of community-based security outfits which should be inclusive and devoid of ethnic and other types of socio-cultural differences.

The document observed that the emergence of community-based security outfits was as a result of the failure of the state to make adequate security provision.

On the Middle East, the communique noted that the major cause of the conflict in the region revolves around issues relating to land and nationhood which had become a complex matter especially since the creation of the State of Israel.

“The Middle East conflict for the past seventy years has led to horrendous bloodshed, destruction of properties and displacement of populations, social and economic injustices which largely affect ordinary civilians.

“The Palestinian Question has defied an amicable solution within the framework of the United Nations Resolutions and International law because of the insincerity, bias and other forms of prejudices exhibited by some of the major actors in the region and outside,” it said.

To find a permanent solution to the conflict in the region, it said that peace resolutions agreements based on the two-states solution should be implemented under the supervision of the United Nations without further delays.

The communique also said that there was a need for sincere international mediation and negotiation in resolving other outstanding contentious issues in the Middle East.

Topic treated at the one-day event by different resource persons were “Assessing the Role of Community-Based Security Outfits/Initiatives/Institutions in Conflict Resolution and Promoting Security in Northwestern Nigeria” and “The Imperative of Innovative Strategies for Mitigating Conflict and Security Challenges in Northwestern Nigeria”

Others were “Exploring New Diplomatic Options Towards Conflict Resolution in the Middle East” and “Historical Dynamics of Israel–Palestine Conflict: The Way Forward.”