Nigeria, Aug. 26 -- Last week, yours sincerely was in Gusau, Zamfara State, as one of the panelists and resource persons at the North-West Security Summit, themed "Appraising the Security Challenges in the North-West," at the instance of the Inspector General of Police, Olatunji Disu.

It was a week of thorough deliberations and deep reflections. It also afforded one the opportunity to sneak out to frontline areas for an assessment and to visit the Theatre Command Headquarters of the Joint Task Force, Operation Fansan Yamma (OPFY), under the command of Major General WB Idris.

Some of us arrived on Monday and Tuesday ahead of the full commencement of the event. On the opening day, the Governor of Zamfara State, Dauda Lawal, was on hand wi...