Former governor of Sokoto state between 1999 to 2007 and a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa, has advised leaders at all levels to braise up and address food insecurity which he described as the evil that cause armed banditry and retarded progress.
He also advised that governments should restrategise on the fight against bandits and insurgency, especially in the North-west and Northern central which he said bedeviled economic development in those geo-political zones, which according to him, were the food basket of the country.
Bafarawa who stated this while speaking with newsmen in Sokoto said thousands of farmers could not go to their farmlands for fear of being kidnapped.
He said farmers in some villages, especially in South eastern part of Sokoto state had fled away from their villages, abandoned their farmlands and seek refugees in major towns and cities.
He said: “It is important for the leaders of Nigeria to note that insecurity is not limited to banditry. Food insecurity is worse than banditry, and the situation could be worse if the federal and state governments allow food insecurity to take over our communities.”
