Northerners living in South-East and South-South regions have pledged to maintain and promote peace in the zones.

Northerners living in South-East and South-South regions have pledged to maintain and promote peace in the zones. They also promised to ensure that the unemployed northerners in the regions are meaningfully engaged, to avoid them compounding insecurity problems in the areas. These were part of resolutions reached at the end of meeting by the Association of Northern Traders over the weekend in Enugu.

Briefing journalists, the Enugu state Legal Adviser of the Association, Ilyas Muhammadu Akdoi, said the association is worried over the activities of unemployed northerners, which he noted is threatening their businesses in the regions. Akdoi however said they will not fold hands and watch the unemployed ones, mostly youths, destroy the goodwill the northerners have enjoyed, stressing that they are out to deepen their acceptance in Igbo land.

According to him, they will continue to work with the various state governments in the South-East and South-South regions, as a way if cementing the relationship and understanding between them. Another member of the group, Ahmed Saidu, urged the public to report any northerner fomenting problem to Hausa community closest to them, noting that any reported case will be severally dealt with.