BY Jemilat Nasiru
Aminu Masari, governor of Katsina state, says the government will not allow the insecurity in the north-west and north-central escalate to the status of insurgency in the north-east.
Masari gave the assurance on Wednesday while speaking to journalists after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari.
According to him, only 30 police officers provide security for 100 villages in the state.
“Currently the military is in Katsina for their annual super camp. Over 2000 of them are gathered in Katsina in order to really send a signal to the bandits that the military is ready and willing and they have the capacity to deal with the situation,” Masari said.
“The hope is that the military including the police and other security agencies have been given a marching order by the president to control the situation by all means and it is a task that must be done because we cannot allow the situation in the north-west to develop to a worrisome stage like it is in the north-east.”
Masari added that although the rainy season has set in and can pose a challenge to the fight against bandits, the government is determined to conquer them, and that agricultural yields would still come out well.
“You know, the north-western and north-central parts of the country where these bandits are is a vast forest area and unfriendly terrain so especially now during the rainy season, moving with heavy military equipment can be very challenging because the soil is soft and the rains are heavy but it is doable,” he said.
“No situation is impossible especially to a willing and determined mind so I do believe that we can conquer these bandits and stop them from hibernating into something else.
“First of all in the aspect of non-kinetic measures, what we are waiting for is for the military to take total control of the land areas then the state and local governments will now move in; especially in the area of education, access and water supply then their means of livelihood, which is mainly agriculture and livestock.
“For us in Katsina, we have concluded all our designs but we cannot safely get access to where we can make reservations in terms of earth dams, we have already earmarked 30 areas in which we are going to reconstruct all the earth dams that are broken down and construct some that are new in order to provide watering points and again, we are reintroducing grazing points but as it is today, we cannot access the land.
“We have partners that are willing to join hands with us but we have to get the land back in peace because nobody will go and invest where security is not very tight but with the current military operation going on, I am sure before the end of this rainy season we will have a very conducive atmosphere and free area that people can go back to their normal life.”
The US has alerted Nigeria that Al-Qaida insurgent group is penetrating the north-west part of the country where Katsina is.
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