The minister of state Defence, Bello Mohammed Matawalle, has assured farmers in the Northwest, particularly, of accessing their farmlands for 2025 food production as the ongoing military operations continue to record success against insurgents.
Matawalle made the assurance while briefing newsmen at his hometown of Maradun on Sunday, where he received Members of the All Progressives Congress, APC and the teeming Supporters who paid him a Sallah homage.
He said farmers would massively access their farmlands for the 2025 food production as the ongoing military operations have secured opportunities for displaced communities to return to normalcy.
The minister lamented Governor Dauda Lawal’s refusal to cooperate and pay his contributions to the fight against banditry. He said this has brought slow progress towards crushing banditry and other criminal activities in the state.
According to him, the federal government has improved welfare and equipped the military personnel with all necessary weapons to end banditry before 2025 elapses, as directed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“The problem we are still battling is a lack of needed support and cooperation from Governor Dauda Lawal, as our gallant troops were not provided with even accommodation, which would operate as camps and magazines.
“Provision and intelligent sharing is an integral part of drafted strategies by the Nigerian Army against any targeted places or group of enemies, but the Zamfara State Government is not playing its role in that aspect, so that the terrorists would have been defeated before now”, Matawalle further lamented.
“The military’s aggressive approaches against the bandits will continue, this time. As the wet season has already started and the terrain becomes more inaccessible, the federal government has provided the troops with fighting helicopters, which will still take the fight to bandits’ enclaves,” Matawalle assured.
