A team of SELL Resource persons and Community Volunteers paid an advocacy visit to DSP Kamal Datti, Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) Bauchi State Police Command, on Friday 25^th October, 2019. The purpose of the visit was to highlight possible areas of collaborations and to complement the efforts of the Juvenile and Women Case (JWC) unit of the Nigeria Police in combating cases of Child Abuse and Gender Based Violence in the State.

The PPRO welcomed the SELL Team and applauded the Foundation for its commitment and effort towards building peaceful communities and ensuring that young people, women and children are safe in the state and elsewhere, thereby becoming agents of peace. He encouraged SELL resource team to always keep in touch with police in Bauchi for any criminal issues relating to domestic violence and child abuse and made a clarion call to all citizens to report cases of violence or abuse to the nearby police station for proper investigation.

Similarly, the advocacy visit was also extended to the Vigilante Group Nigeria (VGN) Bauchi State command where the SELL team commended the vigilante group for being proactive with security issues and for their prompt and effective response in handling security challenges in the state. Mr. Ibrahim Adamu the Commander in charge of operations VGN stated at the meeting that security starts with individual; he in turn commends the effort of SELL foundation in the area of peace building in North East and particularly in Bauchi State. At the end of the meeting, Mr. Ibrahim Adamu and other officials of the Vigilante group assured SELL of their support and resolve to partner and collaborate with SELL through building a peaceful community.

In order to expand the scope of partnership and collaborations in Bauchi state, the Team also visited some key stakeholders to review and focus on issues relating to wholistic human and community development in communities within Bauchi state. Some of the stakeholders visited include: Rev Fr. Justine Dyikuk, CYON Chaplain (outgoing), Alhaji Ahmad M. Baba (Sarkin Guru) and OXFAM Line project, Bauchi where areas of collaborations were initiated.

Written by Emily Ranna Yinala

SELL communications Officer