…Calls for massive recruitment of youths to tackle insecurity
Bandits terrorizing the Northwest geo-political zone of the country should be declared as “insurgents” or “terrorists” without delay to enable the military crush them, Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai has told President Muhammadu Buhari.
Apparently worried by the unalloyed activities of the dreaded bandits, the declaration, the governor said, would enable the Nigerian military to attack and kill “these bandits without any major consequences in the international law”, as earlier passed in a resolution by members of the National Assembly recently.
The concerned Governor made the request while speaking shortly after receiving the 3rd quarter security report from the Commissioner of Internal Security and Home Affairs, Mr. Samuel Aruwan at the Sir Kashim Ibrahim House, Kaduna on Wednesday.
The Commissioner had earlier in his report, announced that bandits had killed no fewer than 343 and abducted 830 persons as well as injured 210 persons among them women and minors within the third quarter of the year in the state.
El-Rufai also called for simultaneous approach in the fight against banditry in the north western part of the country, saying there has not been “simultaneous operations in all states.”
He said: “the operations against the bandits that began in this last quarter are degrading bandits, but are not yet simultaneous across all the affected states in the North-West region. That explains limitations that our personnel and other resource deficits have imposed on federal security agencies.
“There are simply no enough boots on the ground to have credible deployment to most places, deter crime and restore order. That is the reality that we face.
“Many state governments in the North-West and North-Central have adopted a non-conventional approach to help the security agencies to better protect our communities. In our own case, we have about 900 trained and vetted vigilantes personnel working with the security agencies.
“However, we still observed that there is no alternative to launching simultaneous operations in all states.”
Speaking further, El-Rufai called on the federal government to embark on an emergency massive recruitment of more personnel into the nation’s security agencies.
According to him: “Government can change the game significantly by hiring 1,000 willing youths from each of the 774 local governments areas of the country into the various security agencies. This will be asuch an unprecedented number since the civil war.
“An influx or addition of 774.000 new boots on the ground in various security agencies will be a significant blow against criminal and an employment creating opportunity.”
Backing the National Assembly’s resolution to declare bandits as terrorists, the governor said the state government had since 2017 written to the federal government on the action, pointing out that “bandits don’t deserve mercy and they should not be allowed to live.”
“We in the Kaduna State government had always urged for the declaration of bandits as insurgents and terrorists. We have written letters to the federal government since 2017 asking for this declaration because it is this declaration that will allow the Nigerian military to attack and kill these bandits without any major consequences in the international law.
“So, we support the resolution by the National Assembly and we are going to follow up with a letter of support for the federal government to declare these bandits and insurgents as terrorists, so that, there will be fair game for our military,” the governor added.
