Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani has lamented that the North West Zone faces an existential threat.
The governor added that seven states of the North West are affected by rural banditry merged with insurgency, along with cattle rustling, kidnapping and communal violence.
He also said the porous borders are responsible for the influx of arms and mercenaries causing banditry and terrorism in the North-West, which fuel threats to national security.
Governor Sani stated this while addressing Commissioners of Security in the North West Zone during a Policymakers Technical Session on the North West Peace and Security Development Framework held in Kaduna on Monday, called for an extension of the operations of the Multinational Joint Task Force to cover international borders spanning the Northwest region.
Sani said, “We don’t have the luxury of time. The North West Zone faces an existential threat. The seven states of the North West are affected by rural banditry merged with insurgency, along with cattle rustling, kidnapping and communal violence. Poverty is ravaging our people. The population of out-of-school children is scary. Insecurity in the North West has retarded developments in the critical sectors. Farmers cannot access their farms. Food insecurity now confronts us directly. Child and maternal mortality are on the increase. Our infrastructure has decayed,” he said.
In his welcome address, Kaduna State Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs Samuel Aruwan said the security threats in Northwest States, particularly banditry and terrorism, have become increasingly irregular. They have metamorphosed to the extent that they now demand significant levels of cooperation between and across layers of government and, indeed, between states.
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