Nasarawa State governor, Abdullahi Sule, has expressed concerns over the rising spate of kidnapping, armed robbery and other organised crimes in the state.
To this end, the governor convened an expanded security council meeting to halt the emerging trends.
At the meeting which took place at the Government House, Lafia yesterday, the governor decried the incessant cases of kidnapping especially within Lafia, the state capital.
He charged security agencies to come up with strategies aimed at curbing the new challenges.
“Kidnapping has become rampant especially in Lafia Local Government Council. These are major concerns and we can not fold our arms as government.
“We work very hard to provide infrastructure and other support to the people but the security of the people and their welfare is of more importance to us than all these things that we are doing. Because we can be building bridges, schools, clinics but if the people are dead, then it does not make any difference. Therefore, we must protect the lives of people as a government and we must work with you to ensure that happens. That is the major reason that we are having the meeting,” he stated.
On the issues involving the resettlement of the Bassa people, the governor explained that he was briefed by a committee set up by the Federal Government and headed by a former Chief of Army Staff, General Mathew Luka Agwai.
According to him, the former chief of army staff had expressed concern over the fate of several youths left to roam the streets, urging the state government to develop skills training to take the youths off the street and avoid a relapse in criminality.
“At the state level, the next meeting that we are going to have at the exco is to discuss how we can support a lot of our youths who are roaming the streets. Now that we have the opportunity to do that, it’s very important that after the event we appreciate the kinetic approach but we also have to look at the non kinetic means in order to support our people.
“One of those areas is to go and look at some of our youths that are roaming the streets without any means of livelihoods to see how we can provide them with free skills acquisition and provide them with starter packs to start their businesses,” he said.
He appreciated the Ohimege Opanda and the Ona of Toto, for the way they have cooperated about the resettlement of the Bassa people.
“The Ohimege Opanda briefed me that the security agencies have been working strongly, the local government chairman has been very supportive, and so far, the people have settled. The level of criminality in Toto has reduced to an appreciable point where from Toto to Umasha there is no criminality whatsoever,” he said.
