North Westerners are fast realizing that they were sold a farfetched and naive dream and now earnestly wishing for a return to normalcy. Few days to the celebration of the National day, the population of the North West region are bracing up for a peaceful celebration as they feel secured thanks to the panoply of measures put in place by government. Since the outburst of the crises in 2016, school infrastructures, public offices, services and private property have suffered serious damages from the hands of terrorists. Burning and killings of persons and property have been their style.
To bring the situation to normalcy, the government and local administrations have put hands on deck for peace, tranquillity and hospitality to return. The restriction of the circulation of persons and their goods was deemed absolutely necessary, it is against this backdrop that a regional order instituted a curfew that spans from 9pm to 5am. This was in a bid to maintain peace and ensure law and order. These restrictions will however be uplifted progressively as normalcy returns.
The creation of the fifth Joint Military and Gendarmerie Region on the 12th of February 2018 by the President of the Republic was also in respond to step-up security measures and efficiency in security operations. Mixed check points have been erected and enforced on the roads leading in and out of the North West Region so as to ensure the security of persons and their goods. Here, individuals are identified and screened thoroughly and those found to breach social peace and tranquility are denounce. New security posts have been created mostly in the affected areas such as Batibo, Widikum, and Belo for proximity security reasons.
As a follow up to the battery of measures already taken by the Head of State, sensitization campaigns to inform and mobilize all stakeholders for the need of a rapid return to normalcy is ongoing. Local, cultural, religious and political leaders recently carried a message of peace, consciousness and reality to the grassroots population of the North West Region, calling them to shun violence.
The population was receptive and eager once more to enjoy the peace, hospitality and tranquility the region hitherto enjoyed. They have acknowledge that using violence to address internal misunderstanding is not the best method.
Cynthia Efopa