A Professor of Criminology and Gender, Hauwa’u Evelyn-Yusuf, on Thursday called for the inclusion of women in any security strategy targeted at ending the security challenges in the country.
The professor, who works with Kaduna State University (KASU), made the call in Kaduna at a discourse titled ‘Gender, Security and Development in Africa’, organised as a festschrift in her honor by the university.
She said every woman, who is regarded as mother of the home, must be in charge of the socialization of her children, in order to influence the society positively.
According to her, current security challenges are a manifestation of bad upbringing, with the women better placed to change the narrative.
“If the act of terrorism and other forms of criminal activities must be demeaned to its minimal, women must be involved in the strategies to roll away the problems .
“Children’s criminal tendencies begins with our immediate homes where women are in charge of modeling their behaviors; the failure is the result we are battling with now,” she said.
Evelyn-Yusuf also said women must take the lead in discussing issues around security with their children and instilling in them life long morals, in order to dissuade them from any kind of terror and deviant behaviors.
“In African, women had played both active and passive roles in the restoration of peace even though they have not been fully engaged in the peace making initiatives in their societies due to cultural stereo typing, political favoritism among others.”
She backed calls for community policing to tackle the myriads of security problems in the country.
“To achieve a concrete community policing, we must tap from the idea of the ancient days where we are each others keepers.
“People should begin to watch out for their neighbors and the people around them, when you see any stranger in your community, you should be able to find out what the person is doing in the community.
“The government should also provide immense support in forms of empowerment and employment for the youth.
“With this, we can be able to rid our immediate environment from the issues of insecurity”, Evelyn-Yusuf said.
The Professor called on women to join active politics and take up leadership positions, so as to contribute to finding solutions to the current insecurity challenges and ensure proper upbringing of children.
