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Buhari urges Northern governors to see threat to peace in any part of Nigeria as threat to all

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President Muhammadu Buhari wants the 19 Northern governors that make up the Northern Governors Forum (NGF), to see the threat to peaceful co-existence and insecurity in the country as a threat to all and build a strong collaboration with security agencies to collectively fight crime which has bedeviled their region in the past few years.

Buhari gave this admonition through his Chief of Staff, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, who represented him at a meeting of Northern governors in Kaduna on Thursday.

In a statement issued by the Director of Press and Media Affairs to Yobe State Governor Mai Mala Buni, Mamman Mohammed, Buhari tasked the new security chiefs to deploy new measures to effectively tackle the problem of insecurity, while also urging Nigerians to see the threat to peace in any part of Nigeria as a threat to all.

READ ALSO: Northern governors, IGP, NSA, monarchs, others meet in Kaduna over insecurity

The statement reads:

“We are confronting the various challenges of insecurity that continue to slow down all economic activities of the present government. The government continues to deal with insurgents, bandits, kidnappers and criminals causing havoc to innocent people in the country.

“Criminals are criminals and should be dealt with as criminals accordingly without resorting to ethnic violence.

“I expect that at this meeting, it will discuss and devise ways of bringing stronger collaboration with the security architecture, security personnel and the people to curb all forms of insecurity in the country.

“The recent ugly incidences of the kidnap of school children in Government Science Secondary School, Kagara, Niger State, as well as traveling passengers, further reminds us of the difficult situation we face and the need for us to redouble our efforts in overcoming them. This meeting provides us with the opportunity to do so.

“At all times, we must identify, isolate and punish crime no matter who commits it rather than resort to labeling and generalization that shields the criminals and generates tension for the innocent.

“As for enhancing the economy of the North, we should be able to rise from this meeting with concrete steps to take on how best to create opportunities for our teeming youth population. We must ensure that we productively engage our people by reviving our moribund industries that once employed thousands as well as see to it that agriculture is driven by value chain addition.

“We have the manpower and potentials to not only end poverty and hunger but also drive the economic diversification of the nation in line with the policy direction of the Federal Government.”

The Chairman of the NGF, Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State, in his opening speech at the meeting, said the summit was targeted at addressing insecurity, poverty, education, agriculture and youth development among others.

Likewise, the Chairman of Northern Traditional Rulers and Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar, commended the governors for the meeting saying it was both timely and important given the challenge of insecurity that has gripped the region.

He added that the menace of farmers/herders conflicts, kidnapping, illiteracy, street begging and other malaise, there is the need for urgent attention to restore peace in the region.

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