Good governance, solution to North-West security challenges -Kaduna gov

Kaduna State Governor, Senator Uba Sani, on Monday, traced the security challenges in the North-West zone of the country to poverty and unemployment.

The governor noted that the best way to tackle it is through good governance.

Sani stated this at the Sir Kashim Ibrahim Government House, Kaduna in the state capital when he played host to members of the Kaduna State Elders Forum on a congratulatory visit to him after his Supreme Court victory.

This was even as the governor raised the alarm over the rate of out-of-school in the state, noting that the state government was getting $28m support from Kuwait to address the matter.

The governor noted that apart from the current military onslaught on bandits being supported by the Defence headquarters, his administration was also adopting good governance as the best non-kinetic solution to the security challenges.

According to the governor, the security challenges bedevilling the northwest is an economic problem where people kidnap and ask for money.

“What brought about that? Hopelessness, lack of education, lack of economic prosperity,” he said while adding that “over 85 percent of the people in the North West are either not educated or financially excluded.”

“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 Northern Nigeria in particular.

“People always talk about how the problem of insurgency ended in the North-East, but the insurgency is not the same as 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 talked about the ideology of Boko.

“So, there is poverty if we don't address the poverty by supporting our farmers and increasing productivity, we will not address the problem of insecurity,” he added.

On the out-of-school children, the governor lamented that the number of out-of-school children in the northwest, especially in Kaduna State was alarming and unacceptable.

“In Kaduna State, we have over 600,000 out-of-school children. But they realized how proactive we have been, Kuwait Fund is supporting us with $28million to lift out-of-school children back to school,” he said.

On insecurity, the governor added that the Chief of Defence Staff, Chief of Army Staff and the Chief of Air Staff have all assured to support the state government.

“They have decided to set up two Forward Operation Bases 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”, he added.

Both Gen. Zamani Lekwot and Alhaji Abubakar Mustapha, who led the Forum to felicitate with the governor, had earlier lauded his approach to rural development.

In recent months, the northern region has experienced a troubling increase in incidents of kidnapping and banditry, leading to numerous fatalities and significant property damage, leaving residents deeply concerned about their safety and security.