CLEEN Foundation holds Security and Governance Fora in the South East, Nigeria

Nigeria has in recent years been battling different security and governance challenges which manifest in the form of impunity, mismanagement of resources, human rights violations, corruption, bad governance and insecurity.  CLEEN Foundation in a recent study on governance and security in the south east found among other things decline and marginalization of South East region of Nigeria, crime and insecurity, victimhood and poor governance etc. Key findings from the study reveal strong and casual link between poor governance and insecurity. It also shows that politics drives insecurity while lack of implementation of policies and reforms engender insecurity in form of backlash and leads to declining social capital. 

In an effort to strengthen the governance structures at the communal and local levels to provide support for promoting public safety and security, the CLEEN Foundation is partnering with the Ford Foundation to implement a project aimed at promoting governance and security in the South East geopolitical Zone. This builds on the lessons learnt from research and the implementation of other governance and security projects in Nigeria.

The CLEEN Foundation under the auspices of its South East Governance and Security Project organized the second “Governance and Security Forum” at Abakaliki LGA Secretariat Hall, Ebonyi State on Tuesday 3rd November 2015.

The Transitional Committee Chairman of Abakaliki LGA, Hon. Peter Nwaogbaga in his speech, thanked CLEEN Foundation and partners for convening the forum. The Forum brought together a cross section of over 70 participants drawn from Abakaliki LGA including experts and stakeholders from civil society organizations, security agencies, traditional institutions and other stakeholders within the region.

The Forum provided an opportunity for both structured and informal reflection on governance and security issues in the South East in general and particularly in Ebonyi State. Participants discussed and proffered solutions to identified challenges.

CLEEN Foundation is also engaged in building the capacity of community leaders and security agencies on conflict prevention, community policing, and educating them on negative effects of corruption to governance and security.

The discussions in Abakaliki were led by Mr. Frank Odita a retired Commissioner of Police and the Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the CLEEN Foundation. Mr.  Ifeanyi Anyanwu, Program Officer and head of the CLEEN Foundation’s Owerri office facilitated the forum.

Presentations at the forum were aimed at educating participants on community policing and to facilitate discussions on safety, security and governance which contribute also to the adoption of the monthly NPF/VPS Coordination Meeting and Community Accountability Forum (CAF) that CLEEN Foundation and Justice for All (J4A) are implementing in seven states in Nigeria.

From Abakaliki, the “Governance and Security Forum” moves to Ebonyi LGA on 5^th November and thereafter to Enugu South LGA on 11^th November, 2015.

For more information on the project, please contact cleen@cleen.org or visit www.cleen.org. You can also follow us on twitter @cleenfoundation or like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CLEENFoundation/