Chairman of Kudirat Abiola Peace Foundation has raised alarm over spate of insecurity in Kaduna state and North, noting that Kudirat Abiola, a woman of peace, would have taken measures to address the issue, if alive.
Alhaji AbdulJamiu Abiola, a son of Kudirat Abiola, said if his mother was alive today, she won’t be happy with the insecurity in Kaduna state and Northern Nigeria because she was a woman of peace, who detests violence. He said his mother, who was born in Sabon Gari area of Zaria, lived with members of the community peacefully.
Addressing a two-day capacity training for staff of Chikun local government of Kaduna state organised by Kaduna Peace Commission in collaboration with Kudirat Abiola Sabon Gari Peace Foundation on Wednesday, AbdulJamiu noted that the Foundation was miffed with the spate of insecurity in the state.
“Yes, she won’t be happy over the insecurity in Kaduna state. She would have put in efforts to ensure that peace prevail in the state. It was based on this premise that we want to educate the local government staff on the need to have peace in our communities. We are starting in Chikun local government as a pilot scheme for us to see how we can move to other local government areas of the state,” he said.
The Permanent Commissioner, Kaduna State Peace Commission (KAPECOM), Hajiya Khadijah Hawaja Gambo, in her remarks, said to ensure peace is attained in the local government areas, the Commission set up peace committees in the 23 local government areas of the state.
“The law that sets up the Commission says each LGA in the state must have a peace committee.
“In 2019, we set up the peace committees. In 2020, we were about starting the training of peace committees before COVID-19 outbreak prevented it. While we were thinking of how to commence the training for the peace committees, God blessed us with the Kudirat Foundation, who came knocking on our doors for partnership and we grabbed the opportunity.
“They were magnanimous and asked for the pressing issue and we told them we needed to train our peace committees to be on ground effectively. We are looking forward to Kaduna returning to a peaceful state, not only Kaduna, but Nigeria,” she said.
The Overseer Chikun local government, Mrs Jummai Yero, said Chikun is delighted to be first for the training of peace committee members.
“With this workshop, we would be able to reform Chikun local government and make it peaceful again. We pray God intervenes and stop our youth because drug abuse is a big problem, we needs counseling and peace. We need funds to achieve more and step down the programme,” she said.
Declaring the training open, Kaduna state Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Malam Ja’afaru Sani, commended the initiative of the organisers in bringing the training to the grassroots.
