Stakeholders in Kuje area council of Abuja, have launched a community structured initiative to crime prevention within six communities in the area.

Organized by a non-governmental organization, Women Friendly Initiative (WFI), the participants who came from, Pegi, Gaube, Kiyi,Robochi,Chukuku, and Kuje communities, had clerics, youth leaders, traditional rulers and opinion leaders in the program.

According to Mrs. Frances Teshoma Eremutha, a program coordinator for the WFI, "The structure of the program is to identify crime, ways of preventing crime and how to know criminals. With that the Police, the SSS, the Federal Road Safety Corps, the Immigration, and Civil Defense Corps, came and helped to train these opinion leaders."

"The purpose of this project is to prevent crime and criminality in our community. Religious leaders, traditional leaders, the school heads, the youth leaders, the market women, CAN, and the chief Iman, from six communities were trained in the program," she added.

She explained that the program is to sensitize these stakeholders who will also increase awareness in their own communities, "With sensitization people around know who to talk to, unlike in the past people were not able to talk to security men."

The chief of Kiyi, Jibrin Shaba, who was a participant, told newsmen that the program will improve the relationship between the police and people at the grass root because now they have the phone number of the Divisional Police officer (DPO), and can reach him directly.

On behalf of Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Kuje chapter, Rev. Father Colins Ignatius Ekpe, said, "we have benefited a lot from all the security agencies, who were here to give us input, we have learnt the nitty-gritty. We now know that it is our responsibility to call out to them and give them information."

Assistant Superintendent of Police, ASP Samuel Ochefu, the station officer in Kuje, said, "The Police needs society to assist in curbing crime, and after this training the participants know if they have any information for the police they should come to a senior police officers, and the person who is giving the information should make sure he did not leak out the information before coming to the police."