From Noah Ebije Kaduna
Against the backdrop of incessant cases of kidnapping and killings of innocent people by terrorists in Nigeria, Kaduna State Governor, Uba Sani, has said that only good governance would end terrorism and insecurity in North, and the country, as a whole.
The governor stated this at the Sir Kashim Ibrahim Government House, Kaduna when he received members of the Kaduna State Elders Forum, who paid him a congratulatory visit over his victory at the Supreme Court, yesterday.
He noted that poverty and unemployment in particular were responsible for security challenges bedeviling the North-West region, saying the best way to tackle the challenges was through good governance.
“We are also looking at the non-kinetic approach to addressing the security challenges. But, the issue of non-kinetic approach is not just about talking with the bandits, negotiating and asking them to submit their weapons, that is only one aspect of it.
“The most important aspect of non-kinetic approach is good governance. No matter how much we talk and try to bring about peace, if we don’t look at the area of good governance, we will never end the problem of insecurity in the Northern Nigeria in particular.
“People always talk about how the problem of insurgency was ended in the North-East, but insurgency is not the same with the problem of banditry and kidnapping that we have in the North-West. The North-East issue was about people that came from nowhere and talk about ideology of Boko Haram.
“What we have in the North-West is an economic problem, where people kidnap and ask for money. What brought about that? Hopelessness, lack of education, and lack of economic prosperity.
“The problem of the North West is lack of education and financial exclusion. Over 85 percent of the people in the North West are either not educated or financially excluded. So, there is poverty and if we don’t address poverty by supporting our farmers and increasing productivity, we will not address the problem of insecurity.”
Governor Sani added that as Kaduna State intensifies military actions against banditry and kidnapping with the support of the Defence headquarters to build additional two ‘Forward Operation Bases’ in the state, his government is also adopting good governance as the best non-kinetic solution to the security challenges.
The governor, who noted that the alarming rate of out of school children must also be addressed to ensure a secured state and region, disclosed that, the state was getting $28 million support from Kuwait to address the problem of out of school children.
According to the Governor, “The Chief of Defence Staff, the Chief of Army Staff and the Chief of Air Staff, have assured us of their support to our security efforts. They have decided to set up two Forward Operation Bases (FOB) in Kaduna, one in the Southern Kaduna, Zangon Kataf to be precise, and the other one in Birnin Gwari to serve Birnin Gwari down to Giwa. The FOBs will be set up in the next three weeks.
“This is one of the most important interventions by the Defence Headquarters because we have always said that we need more boots on ground and we need the support or the military generally and we are grateful that we are having that support.
“We have also announced last week that we would be setting up a security trust fund. By the grace of God, tomorrow, I would be signing the bill for the establishment of Security Trust Fund 2024. We are amending the one that is obsolete and coming up with a new one. This will give room for the private sector to come in and work with us.
“So, we need to look at the issue of good governance; good governance is key. Many states in the North-West, including Kaduna have a large number of out of school children, which is unacceptable. Even access to healthcare, which is not a privilege, but a right is poor.
“Education is the greatest enabler, so, we must educate the children of the poor to compete favorably with the children of the rich. If we don’t do that, the problem of insecurity cannot be addressed. Happy that a lot of people are already looking at that.
“In Kaduna State, we have over 600,000 out of school children. But, because they realised how proactive we have been, Kuwait Fund is supporting us with $28 million to lift out of school children back to school.”
The Kaduna Elders’ Forum led by General Zamani Lekwot (retd), and Alhaji Abubakar Mustapha, while congratulating the Governor over his electoral victory, said his governance approach of developing the rural area was already yielding positive results.