Chairman of the Forum and Governor of Niger State, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello, who read the Communique to journalists in Makurdi, stressed the need for national interest as guiding principle for states in the region as he expalined that the meeting focused on common challenges of the zone to include, insecurity, economic and infrastructural deficits. “Member States in the zone to jointly appeal to the Federal Government to support the Zone in its ongoing Digital Technology project(s) and other security preventive measures so as to fight all forms of criminality. “Member States to collaborate in the provision of security equipment and joint operations.