Northern Governors ready to tackle Boko Haram

19 Northern Governors yesterday vowed to tackle the issue of insecurity challenges facing the region following the continous bombing Islamic militants [Boko Haram].

The governors also sent a message the Boko Haram members that they would no longer condone criminality.

In a four-page communiqué read by the Chairman of the Northern States Governors Forum and Niger State Governor Babangida Aliyu, after a six hour meeting, the governors said they had decided to adopt an integrated regional approach towards combating criminals.

Aliyu said that the governors resolved to adopt a pragmatic approach to tackling insecurity and embark on confidence building to promote economic prosperity in the North.

According to Aliyu, a five-man committee of governors has been constituted to monitor the implementation of the Federal Government white paper on the security challenges in the Northeast.

Members of the committee include Governors Kashim Shettima of Borno State, Ibrahim Geidam (Yobe), Ahmed Yari (Zamfara), Murtala Nyako (Adamawa) and Jonah Jang (Plateau).

Aliyu said: “We are happy to note that insecurity is subsiding. Where dialogue will work, we will dialogue and we will work with moderate people. We will go all out; we’ll not justify criminality.”

Aliyu also announced a new name for the forum. It is no longer Northern Governors Forum but Northern States Governors Forum. The change was necessitated by the similarity in the names abbreviation and the Nigeria Governors Forum.

Aliyu said the North needs an integrated approach towards tackling the “unfortunate” new realities of insecurity in the North, adding that the governors resolved to adopt a pragmatic, holistic and integrated regional approach to combat crime through collective effort of all security agents.

The governors, he said, also resolved to adopt common policies and programmes as well as build confidence among the people to promote economic prosperity.

They constituted a five-man committee to examine the troubled Kaduna Textiles Limited and recommend ways of reviving the company, which has been moribound for over 10 years.

The governors also resolved to develop a lasting and sustainable source of income from Agriculture and its allied activities as a way of providing employment to the teeming youths of the North and reduce social tension, which would lead to more peace, security and prosperity.



To actualise this objective, the Forum set up a committee under the chairmanship of Katsina State Governor Ibrahim Shehu Shema, to be assisted by Governors Magatakarda Wamako (Sokoto), Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara), Jonah Jang (Plateau), Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa (Kaduna) and Danbaba Suntai (Taraba).

The committee is to recommend to the forum means of improving agricultural production, storage, processing and access to local and international markets and other allied activities.

Aliyu said the Forum was “briefed by officials of the World Bank, DFID and other development partners on the need to facilitate the development of critical sectors in the North, such as health, education, social protection, water and agriculture, commerce and public financial reform.

“The officials highlighted their new approach in partnering with states through knowledge sharing and direct budget support to those states that are committed to Public Financial Management and service delivery.

“The Forum, after indepth deliberation, constituted two committees of three governors each with a view to approaching the National Assembly and the Federal Ministry of Finance for more consultations on the matter in order to benefit from the Programmes of the development partners.

“The Forum received briefings from National Primary Health Development Agency on the prevalence of wild polio virus in the Northern states. The Forum extensively deliberated on the issue and resolved as follows: “To commend the Federal Government for additional funds for eradication of Polio;

“To strengthen the State Task Force on Polio Eradication in each member-state by making it more functional; to sustain the quarterly interaction of governors with their traditional rulers; and to prevail on local government chairmen in the Northern states to continue to support polio programmes particularly through sustained enlightenment campaigns.”