Group to FG: Save North from the abyss

The Chairman, Media and Publicity Committee of the Northern Reform Organization (NRO), a Non-Governmental Organization(NGO), Alhaji Ado Muhammad, has decried the persistent insecurity permeating the n orthern part of the country, urging the federal government to save the region from the brink of abyss.

Addressing a press conference, Friday, at the NUJ Press Centre, Kano, Muhammad said criminality has become a permanent feature in Northern Nigeria, religious and communal conflicts, Boko Haram Insurgency, Herdsmen-Farmers crisis, child abduction and trafficking as well as drug abuse have combined to make the North unsafe to live.

According to him, over the years, there has been general dissatisfaction with governance at all levels in Nigeria and a great majority of Nigerians are yearning for positive change which seemed to have become a mirage adding that on the other side of the government there was a discernible lack of tact in responding to criticisms and dissent.

Muhammad, who spoke through the Vice Chairman of the Committee, Dr. Farouk Umar Usman, stated that the Kankara students’ abduction was another premeditated attempt to completely cripple education in the North and instil a regime of fear in the minds of both students and parents in order to scare them from school.

He noted that unlike their vocal Southern compatriots, who were always quick to complain and lay blame, Northerners have fatalistic attitude to life conditions which tends to encourage government to remain indifferent towards their plights and general well-being.

He said, “We note with sadness that even though the northern region has continued to decay and degenerate, both the leadership and ordinary public have seemed incapable and unwilling to reverse the situation. This is completely attributed to the abandonment of the Principle of Amr bil Maaruf; Every one has the responsibility of commanding good and forbidden evil.

“It is common knowledge that traducers have flooded our community with dangerous drugs, counterfeit products, abducted our children, yet the State and the society seems demobilised and incapable to change the situation” he added.

“The North has continued to play the ostrich watching millions of her children out of school roaming the streets begging, with virtually all the social infrastructure in , appalling condition, while ironically applauding those that pillage public treasury” he lamented.

He further stressed that the lingering insecurity and criminality in Northern Nigeria should be addressed squarely and that the government must not be perceived to be weak and incapable affirming that traditional rulers should be assigned constitutional roles of augmenting security in their domains.

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