From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The Chairman, House of Representatives, Committee on Ecological Fund, Aminu Sani Jaji, has there is need for a synergy between the federal and state governments to tackle insecurity in the country.
Jaji, who stated this while speaking with reporters in Abuja on the security challenges in Zamfara State, expressed concern over the security challenges in Zamfara State. However, he said there must be an end to the blame game between the federal and state government.
The lawmaker, while stating that the insecurity in the North West and other parts of the country is stifling the national economy, charged the the federal government to unravel those involved in the dialogue with bandits in Zamfara.
According to him, “there is a lot of blame game between the Zamfara state governor and the Federal Government about the issue of dialogue. Which for me, is unpalatable. Looking at the fact that the issue of security is not something we can play with. We have to give it a wholistic approach in order to deal with it decisively.
“I saw the Minister of Defence, said that that it is the community that is doing dialogue with the bandits. And most of the video clips, I was opportuned to see, I saw some. Military uniform during the dialogue.
“So, I became concerned. If you are saying it is the community that is doing the dialogue, for free, without the intervention of the federal government or the military or other security agencies, why seeing the military there?”
The lawmaker, who represents Kaura-Namoda/Birnin Magaji Federal Constituency of Sokoto State noted that
rather than the blame game government at all levels should collaborate to end the security challenges in the country.
“This thing is becoming a growing challenge that nobody knows when it will end. It is a challenge that is becoming a national problem. Looking at the North West, 85 percent of the zone is agrarian communities. And today the agricultural production in the North West is less than 20 percent due to to the insecurity.
“That is to say it is directly affecting the national economy. And if you look at the North Central, where they produce about 38 percent of the total agricultural that are for export, and now they are only producing less than 40 percent of their production due to insecurity. And nobody is doing anything.
“We have to urge the federal and state government that this thing must be addressed squarely. The only way this issue can be solved is for both the federal government and state government to come together.”