Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State has identified close collaboration among the frontline states, stakeholders and security agencies as solution to banditry and terrorism in the North-West region and Niger state.
He said at a town meeting in Kaduna that what will make the government and the citizens overcome the security challenges was an understanding of the crisis and close collaboration among the stakeholders and security agencies.
The town meeting towards Promoting Peace and Security in North West Nigeria,was part of a project in Kaduna and Sokoto States on "Building Community Resilience Against Insecurity and Violent Extremism and To Achieve Better Inclusion for Women in Peacebuilding Efforts",
organised by The Kukah Centre, in partnership with Global Rights with support from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).
Represented by the Administrator of Kaduna Capital Territory Authority, Samuel Aruwan, the Governor said banditry and terrorism posed a threat to food security, education, healthcare delivery and development of the rural economy.
“What I want to say here on behalf of Kaduna State Government is that, the military action alone cannot solve the problems we are facing in the North-west or frontline states. We need to come together, we need to understand that, banditry has no political affiliation, banditry is a threat to all of us.It is also not proper to look at banditry with a prism of religion, because everyone is a victim. So, when we come together and collaborate with security agencies, we will have edge against this non-state actors,” he said.
While reacting to Father Barkindo who expressed fear of an alliance between bandits and terrorists from neighboring countries, the Governor said that Nigeria was already feeling the impacts of the such alliance as the March 28th, 2022 attack on Kaduna-Abuja corridor was an example of such collaboration.
“Our conversation here is very important, because we are looking at the consequences of what we are facing. The question is what are we doing? Are we just sleeping as a government? The Government is committed to public safety having been working in collaboration with the military, the Police, and other agencies that are playing critical roles as far as internal security is concerned in Kaduna State."
"For instance, for Kaduna-Abuja road to be quiet, people should know that there is a deliberate policy by government and security agencies and, what we are doing is a public participatory approach to the issue and for obvious reasons The government of Kaduna State will in collaboration with other frontline state governments, continue to implement policies and actions that will help to overcome the challenges," he said.
Executive Director of the Kukah Centre, Fr. Atta Barkindo, told President Bola Tinubu that in addition to the appointment of security chiefs and ministers to address security threats in the Country, the first thing is for the government to liberalise the economy by way of allowing the private sector to thrive which will, in turn, employ the millions of unemployed people.
"We need security reform in this country. The welfare of our security men must be packaged in such a way that they are motivated in defending the territorial integrity of the country. We must also cub the culture of impunity. There is no accountability in this country. People steal and go free. They kill and go free with no one holding them to account. If we don't deal with that culture, all of us can be consumed by it."
"Again, the issue of education is key because a lot of our people are living in ignorance illiteracy, and poverty. I'm not talking about education with just certificates. I'm talking about robust education that pays good attention to technical skills where people can use their hands to survive not depending on the government for survival", he said.
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