Boko Haram not cause of insecurity in North – Aliyu

The killing of innocent lives, arson and other acts of terrorism in the North, particularly Borno state, has gone beyond Boko Haram and needs drastic measures from northern states and federal government to finally lay to rest the issue of insurgency in the North, Governor Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu of Niger state has said.

Addressing the opening ceremony of the Northern Governors Forum (NGF) yesterday in Kaduna, Aliyu, who is the Forum’s chairman, said the meeting aimed at finding lasting solutions to the insurgency ravaging the region while charting a path of developing the North.
He said: “The security situation in our part of the country has gone beyond the description that we give it, it has gone beyond the issue of Boko Haram we need to really appreciate the gravity of the situation. We woke up today to hear what is happening in Borno state in particular and in the north east in general.

“We must take a position and create the political will to transcend to the Federal Government and to the people of Nigeria. Many countries would go to war for the case of one person, but it appears we are becoming a little callous that we don’t seem to care about what is happening.”
He also called on the NGF to resolve the issue of perennial clashes between farmers and cattle rearers; take measures against cattle rustlers across the region and further regulate the activities of cattle dealers and abattoirs to sanitise the northern meat industry.

“Many are beginning to think that we need to settle nomadic people in our states. Many countries with similar nomadic movement of cattle were able to settle them; we should begin to think in that direction. We must begin also to protect those who rear cattle and livestock generally because of what we notice is happening all over the northern part where cattle rustling have become an issue.

“We need concerted and coordinated effort also on transformation of almajiri system of education in northern Nigeria. I think time has come where we will say that the proper integration beyond just building primary schools and schools generally, but to find a way to integrate them properly so that in the next five years at least that system would have been integrated in our system.”