Insecurity Worsening In North West – DSS, El-Rufai

State Directors of the Department of State Services (DSS) in the North West zone have expressed concern over the worsening insecurity in the zone and vowed to find a lasting solution to it.

Also, Kaduna State Governor Malam Nasir El-Rufai has said criminal activities by bandits have threatened both rural and urban communities in the North West region.

El-Rufai lamented that insecurity in the North West zone was disturbing but surmountable.

The governor and the secret police directors spoke at the quarterly meeting of the State Directors of the DSS in the North West in Kaduna yesterday.

They said the enormity and commonality of security challenges facing the zone made the meeting more important.

Addressing the gathering, the chief host and director of DSS, Kaduna State Command, Abdul Eneche, stressed the need for collaboration among all the major  stakeholders to tackle security challenges in the zone.

He said the conference for the first quarter of this year would have been held earlier but was shifted to give room for adequate coverage of the 2023 general elections in the country.

Enenche said the meeting was to review insecurity in the region, particularly kidnapping, banditry, terrorism, rustling and other related crimes across the zone which comprises Kaduna, Katsina, Kano, Jigawa, Sokoto and Zamfara States.

The DSS state chief said states in the zone shared similar security challenges and called on the governors in the region to organise similar meetings for effective collaboration against insecurity.

“We remain resolute to ensure that a permanent solution is achieved not only in the state but in the region,” he said.

Eneche, in an interview with newsmen shortly after the commencement of the conference, said there was need for collaboration with other stakeholders to prevent criminals’ elements moving from one location to another in the North-West zone.

He said, “so, to prevent criminals moving from one location to another while fighting, the need for collaboration became paramount.

“So, all the states collaborate and then, they meet every quarter to do assessment and review of all that had happened during the quarter and the essence is to find gaps, mistakes either that need to be improved upon and strategy of forging ahead in the next quarter.

El-Rufai who spoke through the commissioner for internal security and home affairs, Samuel Aruwan.

The governor lamented that criminal activities by bandits had over the years threatened the rural and urban communities across not only in the state but in the region.

El-Rufai said: “the enormity and commonality of security challenges confronting the Northwest give even more importance to the exchange of ideas and sharing of experiences between sister commands of the Department of State Services in this region.

“Many northern states – not least our states in the North West – are confronting a unique set of security challenges.

“Criminal activities by bandits have threatened both rural and urban communities.

“Bandits have openly tried to crush the rural economy by attacking farmers in their fields, and in their homes. In many states, these criminals continue to menace some highways.

Other stakeholders who spoke at the event included Kaduna State commissioner of police, Musa Yusuf Garba, the chief judge of Kaduna State, Justice Tukur Ma’azu Aliyu and the Emir of Zazzau, Ambassador Ahmed Nuhu Bamalli.

Garba said, “The security meeting is very apt. Insecurity has ravaged the seven states in the zone. And unless and until we cooperate, we can never achieve our goals.”