Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna state has called for concerted efforts by all stakeholders to address insecurity across North-west and North Central zones, noting that the security challenge is threatening food security, education, health even rural economy.
Governor Sani disclosed this in Kaduna on Tuesday while addressing a high level town hall meeting towards promoting peace and security in North-west and North Central organised by the Kukah Centre in partnership with Global Rights with support from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), as a part of a project in Kaduna and Sokoto states on “Building Community Resilience Against Insecurity and Violent Extremism and To Achieve Better Inclusion for Women inPeace Building Efforts.”
The governor, who was represented by the Administrator of Kaduna Capital Territory Authority and Overseer of the Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affairs, Mr. Samuel Aruwan, said Federal and state governments in the affected zones and other stakeholders need to collaborate to jointly find an enduring solution to the challenges.
“The crises that are bedevilled North-west and North Central geopolitical zones are in different dimensions. Frontline states are affected by the security challenges such as banditry, terrorism, intra-religious crises, inter- religious crises, farmers-herders conflicts, hate comments.
“Some people thought farmer -herder clash and banditry are the same. Farmer-herder clash is an old conflict but banditry is different. Security challenge is a threat to food security, children education, rural economy also collapse, primary healthcare centers in rural areas are affected, while people in rural areas have not been able to access health facilities. We need both kinetic and non kinetic solutions. The military has intensified operation along the Kaduna -Abuja highway that is why the highway has been quiet since last year. The defence headquarters has also carried out operations along Kaduna – Birnin Gwari road.
“We need to come together, we need to tackle banditry and terrorism frontally. We are already seeing fusion between bandits and terrorists. The attack on the Abuja – Kaduna train on March 28th, 2022 was a fusion between bandits and terrorists. Kaduna state government is committed to public safety, government is working with the Police and military to achieve public safety for the roads to be quiet there is deliberate policy from government. Kaduna state government is working on a summit on security to take place anytime from now. Government would continue with further actions to solve these challenges,” he said
The Executive Director, Kukah Centre, Fr. Atta Barkindo, urged President Bola Tinubu to address security threats in the country, especially the North-west region.
He said the first thing is for the government to liberalise the economy by allowing the private sector to thrive which will, in turn, employ millions of unemployed people.
“We need security reform in this country. The welfare of our security men must be packaged in such a way that they are motivated in defending the territorial integrity of the country.
“We must also curb the culture of impunity. There is no accountability in this country. People steal and go free. They kill and go free with no one holding them to account. If we don’t deal with that culture, all of us can be consumed by it. Education is key because a lot of our people are living in ignorance, illiteracy, and poverty. I’m not talking about education with just certificates. I’m talking about robust education that pays good attention to technical skills where people can use their hands to survive not depending on the government for survival,” he said.
A Permanent Commissioner with the Kaduna State Peace Commission, Barr. Rebecca Sako-John, in her keynote presentation titled; “Empowering Women in Peace Building: Highlighting the Role of Women in Promoting Peace and Security, and the Need for Gender-Sensitive Approaches in Conflict”, noted that, achieving lasting solutions to security in the country will be difficult without involving women in the decision-making process.
She lamented that women are more vulnerable and are targeted in conflict situations.
