•Call for unanimous approach to avert flooding
By Egena Sunday Ode
Northern state governors are poised to eliminate the prevalent insecurity bedevilling the region in order to enable it contribute to development and prosperity of the country.
Chairman of Northern States Governors Forum (NSGF), Mohammed Inuwa, disclosed this to newsmen on Tuesday after a closed-door meeting with Vice President Kashim Shettima at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja, listing cattle rustling, kidnapping and banditry as issues already being tackle with a view to restoring peace and tranquility in the affected states.
Inuwa who is also governor of Gombe State vowed that he and his colleagues would get to the root of the issues that had triggered one form of crisis or the other and change the narrative with respect to insecurity in the North.
He said: “Government is very focused and is working day and night with the security agencies to ensure that there’s compliance with law and order and there is compliance to a reasonable extent. But the issues that have to do with resources, especially the land resource, because our people are peasant farmers, and farmers means those involved in crop production and livestock. So in between, because of the encroachment of our grazing reserves, forest reserves, and even the cattle routes, issues have started to spark off, and those issues are those that catapulted to result into rustling banditry and kidnapping for ransom, which is very, very prevalent in the Northwest and the North Central.
“So at the moment, we’re focusing on doing that, maintaining the peace by providing for each and everybody and each and every sector in a way that we understand and cooperate with one another. And we give chance so that as you do unto yourself, you do same to the other person for the purpose of maintaining peace and tranquility in the state. That is why Gombe has made some difference and that’s where we are.
“And as a chairman of Northern States Governors Forum, I will ensure that we get to the root of all those problems through the support of the various state governments and the federal government itself will come up with the solutions, since that will trigger positive action and reaction, not the negatives, and very soon, the narrative will change by the grace of God the narratives will change, we will have a peaceful north that is contributing to the development and prosperity of Nigeria.”
The NSGF chairman also called for a collective approach to prevent flooding in the zones and the entire country, urging the federal and state government to work in hand with the regulatory authorities to achieve the target.
Inuwa explained that the process will change the narratives as well as give room for more development.
He said all hands must be on the deck to salvage the menace of flooding in the country.
“You see flooding too is a global or national phenomenon that is being felt elsewhere. Mind you, if you talk of flood from the north is either through the tributaries of the rivers, Niger and Benue, that link up the conference in Lokoja and then run down to the Delta ending in Bayelsa to the Atlantic Ocean, and those tributaries as a result of the change in the nature and geography. There is siltation, a lot of siltation, and also as a result of poor farming practices and deforestation, the forest and our farms have now turned into and gateway for the desert. And those exacerbated sanitation that takes place along the streams and rivers. So we must work as one people.
“The problem of flooding is virtually a national issue now, you know, global warming and climate change is affecting the entire globe, and for that, we are strategizing. We would not like a repeat of what happened last year to occur again this year. But in whatever we do, we have to be both proactive and reactive.
“We have not acted in the way that we solved all the problems of last year, and this has started. So we need to double you know, we’ll do some little backtracking and move in double loss to catch up with the current trends and do the needful. So all hands must be on deck NiMET, the states, NEMA, and whoever has an interest in the environment and environmental control has to come together and work with the government in order to solve the problem,” he said.
