Governors of the 19 northern states rose from their regular consultative meeting in Kaduna yesterday, urging the Federal Government to stop the insurgency in the Northeast from spreading to other parts of the country.
In a communiqué read by Northern States Governors Forum (NSGF) chairman Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu, the governors also resolved to send a delegation to the proposed national conference. Those they described as the best brain in the region will be members of the team.
The governors also advised the government to come up with a national policy that will settle nomads and provide adequate grazing reserves and cattle routes as a way of addressing the frequent clashes between Fulani nomads and farmers.
At the meeting, which is the longest in recent times, the governors decried the security situation in the Northeast, caused by the deadly activities of the Boko Haram, urging the Federal Government to arrest the situation immediately. They condemned the killing of about 100 people in a village in Borno State at the weekend.
They said the situation in the Northast should be of national concern to avert its spread to other parts of the country, adding that in view of the continuing threat from the insurgents, there was urgent need for the Federal Government to deploy more security personnel with superior military equipment to the troubled sport. Besides, the government, they said, should adopt measures to boost their morale to enable them fight the insurgents and other threats to security.
The governors appeal to the federal government to take steps to secure the country’s porous borders by restricting trans-border movement, especially in the Northeastern states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe. The Federal Government, they counselled, should implement all past reports on security challenges.
While expressing concern about activities of cattle rustlers in the region, the governors concerted efforts from member states to tackle the increasing security challenges caused by cattle rustlers and the proliferation of arm banditry in most parts of the northern states. They urged the Federal Government to consider a national policy to settle nomads and provide adequate grazing reserves and cattle routes so as to address the frequent clashes between nomads and farmers.
On the national conference, the governors resolved to nominate the best of brains from the North, with a united agenda to represent it at the forth coming National conference.
Addressing his colleagues before the closed door meeting, Aliyu, who is the governor of Niger State, said the time had come when as governors, they must muster the desired political will to stop the mindless killings by the Boko Haram insurgents.
He said: “We woke up today to hear what has been happening in Borno State in particular but in the Northeast in general and many of the northern states; we must take a position so that we create the political will, if it is lack of political will on our part; we must create that political will, so that from our own political will, it will transcend to the Federal Government and to the people of Nigeria.
“The situation is going beyond the traditional description that we give of Boko Haram and I think we need to really appreciate the gravity of the situation. Many countries will go to war for the death of one person, but it appears we are becoming a little callous, that we don’t seem to care much about what is happening and we must continue to encourage the Federal Government to do really what it is supposed to do.
“We need a concerted effort and coordinated effort also on transformation of Almajiri system of education in northern Nigeria. I think time has come where we will say that the proper integration beyond just building primary schools and schools generally but to find a way to integrate them properly so that in the next five years at least that system would have been integrated in our system.
“We must take a concerted effort together. Many are beginning to think that we even need to settle nomadic people in our states. Many countries with similar nomadic movement of cattle were able to settle them.
“Some of them over 100 years ago and we should begin to think towards that direction. We must begin also to protect those who rear cattle and livestock generally because of what we notice is happening all over the northern part where cattle rustling has become an issue.
The meeting was attended by the governors of Kaduna, Niger, Kano, Kebbi, Kwara and Benue. Kogi, Katsina, Jigawa and Bauchi were represented by their deputy governors. Plateau, Nasarawa, Adamawa and Taraba states did not send representatives.
