No development without peace, says Masari

From Lawal Sa’idu Funtua, Katsina

Governor Aminu Bello Masari of Katsina State has reiterated that, there cannot be any development without peace, stressing that, “we are the problems of ourselves.”
Masari stated this when he received the leadership of the Coalition of Northern Group led by Alhaji Nastru Ashiru Sheriff at the Government house Katsina.
“We value politics and positions more than our people. I want you to propagate the fact that, this issue of security should be off partisan politics and until it is treated as such, we will not learn from our mistakes”.
“We are the architect of our own problems, the forest areas were neglected since we got oil money and together with the herders, the cattle routes were destroyed because some of them had become seditary farming on cattle routes and grazing lands”, he said.
He however asserted that, “we have to stabilize the region now”, adding that, the bandits must be educated and gainfully employed.
According to him, I don’t believe that, those people who have no opportunity for no fault of theirs to have gone to school cannot be fully engaged.
“This is a big opportunity to engage them. This people if we abandon them with their children, it is a time bomb waiting to explode, but if we can employ over 50,000 of them, they can in turn educate their children and would be making progress”, he opined.
The Governor therefore charged all to see security as everybody’s business, saying that, collectively we must fight it and avoid partisan politics, as it is another cancer in the system that destroy associations and divide families.
Alhaji Nastru Ashiru Sheriff, the CNG board Chairman, earlier, said they were in Katsina to thank and commend Governor Masari for showing leadership by recognizing the seriousness of the situation and keeping his promise of ensuring the safe return of the school boys.
Sheriff however recommended for the articulation of a workable framework for advocacy to effectively reach and interact with all parties including the bandits and the estranged public.