A group, Arewa Initiative for Peaceful Coexistence in Southern Nigeria, on Sunday expressed concern over rising insecurity in the Northern region in spite of efforts by security forces to contain the situation.
The Chairman of the Association, Musa Saidu, made their feelings known in an interview in Abuja.
Saidu said the Federal Government should urgently initiate new strategies to secure the lives and property of citizens across the region.
He noted that the Northwest and North Central have been trapped in serious crises heightened by banditry and systematic violent displacement of farming communities.
“The bandits kill, kidnap, rape, loot, rustle cattles and displace communities in Kaduna, Sokoto, Katsina, Zamfara, Niger, Benue and Plateau states.
“Government must take urgent action to safeguard villages and farming communities suffering from these attacks,” he added.
According to him, the situation has been captured in a recent report of UN High Commission for Refugees, and the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons.
Saidu said the report indicated that 210,354 people from 171 communities have been displaced by bandits in recent attacks in the northwest alone.
“From this figure, Zamfara accounted for 144,996, Sokoto had 35,941, and 29,417 were in Katsina,” he explained.
Saidu also advised government to develop a comprehensive agenda to address poverty, weak security, and bad governance, which he said were some of the major factors fueling banditry and communal violence in the region.
He recalled that the North which produced more than 65 per cent of total food crops in Nigeria and contributed 45 percent to GDP had almost been grounded by bandits, who have chased away people from their homes and farmlands.
“United Nations Development Programme’s report on Multidimensional Poverty Index indicated that five of the 10 states with endemic poverty in Nigeria are from the northwest.
“Northwest has the highest intensity of poverty with 45.0 percent, followed by the northeast 44.0 percent due to insurgency,” Saidu added.
He further urged the federal government to take total control of mining ctivities which had been cornered by “criminal elements.”
“Northern part of the country is endowed with mineral resources but presently controlled by bandits and their sponsors.
“It was alleged that 80 percent of mineral resources exploration, especially gold mining is being conducted illegally,” he said.
Saidu cited data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), which indicated that 26.95 percent of Nigeria’s GDP had been affected by the disruption of agriculture related activities.
“Federal and state governments must work hard to end the calamity of insecurity otherwise it would consume the entire country.
“I believe government can end this problem, fish out the sponsors and the bandits.
“Democracy can’t succeed in a state of lawlessness, poverty, fear and uncertainty,” he said.
NAN
