Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari has told governors experiencing difficult relationships with security heads in their states to reports to him.
The president who spoke when he met Northern Governors Forum (NGF) in Abuja, yesterday, again assured that he would not let the nation down in the fight against security.
At the meeting, the governors unveiled their concerns about uncontrollable security challenges in the region to President Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He promised to increase the frequency of his meetings with security chiefs and to keep him updated.
Buhari said: “The security of the country is on my mind 24 hours of the day. I get daily and weekly situation reports. I have listened to your brief. I will look into your recommendations. I am acutely aware of the situation, but I have learnt more today.”
He bemoaned the ravaging effect of unchecked corruption in the past on the country’s Armed Forces.
“The terrible effects of mismanagement were prevalent and these are the consequences. If you follow the efforts we are making within the system, you will see that we have curbed much of the corruption that is there. See the recoveries that we have made – money, landed property. We are not going as fast as we want under the system, but we will keep trying to improve it.”
In their presentations, the governors drew the President’s attention to specific challenges they faced in their respective states.
They commended the Federal Government’s efforts in curbing Boko Haram terrorism and farmers/herders clashes, which they said had been dealt with.
While noting that normalcy had virtually returned to the North-East, the governors, however, warned that armed banditry was posing a dangerous threat and needed to be tackled with equal swiftness.
Governors in attendance were Kashim Shettima (Borno), Simon Lalong (Plateau),Yahaya Bello (Kogi), Nasir El-Rufai (Kaduna), Aminu Bello Masari (Katisna), Aminu Waziri Tambuwal (Sokoto), Muhammad Badaru Abubakar (Jigawa), Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi), Abubakar Sani Bello (Niger) and Abdulaziz Yari (Zamfara).
Briefing State House Correspondents after the closed door meeting, Governor Masari, said they were worried about the Boko Haram menace in the North-East, the banditry in the North-West and the kidnappings in the North-Central, and came to seek presidential intervention.
He said the governors offered suggestions on how to tackle the problems, and that Buhari gave his word and commitment that something would be done by the Federal Government to assist states check them.
Masari, citing security reasons declined to give the specific suggestions the governors offered, stating that the president has pledged to assist, insisting that the details were not for public consumption yet.
The Katsina governor said: “The issue that brought us to the President is about the rising insecurity in the north west, north central and Northeast. Northeast is known for Boko Haram insurgency but of recent what was known to be cattle rustling in Northwest and some parts of Northcentral has turned out to be something different from what we had before.
“So, this concern made us to come and brief the President so that urgent action would be taken in order to curb this deadly menace of banditry which is gradually graduating into insurgency. You know the Northwest with a vast forest area going to Northcentral and then even going out of Nigeria.
“So we need to act quickly and decisively so that it doesn’t turn into something else like what we had in the northeast”.
Asked about the update on the kidnapped district head of Buhari’s home town, Daura, Masari said the police was making progress to secure his release and apprehend the abductors, but the details would equally not be made public for now.