Boko Haram: Northern govs worried, call for more troops

Northern States Governors’ Forum (NSGF), on Monday, said the incessant attacks by the Boko Haram sect has gone beyond the traditional pattern of their attacks.
Chairman of the forum, Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger, expressed the concern, when he spoke to newsmen on the agenda of the one-day general meeting held in Kaduna.
“The situation has gone beyond the normal pattern that we gave to Boko Haram and I think we need to really appreciate the gravity of the situation,” he stressed.
Aliyu decried the spate of attacks in the northern region, particularly in Borno and other North-Eastern states, stressing the need for the Federal Government to take measures to curtail it.
“But it appears that we are becoming a little callous that we don’t seem to care much about what is happening. We must continue to encourage the Federal Government to really do what it is supposed to do,” he said.
The forum also urged the Federal Government to deploy more troops to the North-East to contain the upsurge in attacks by insurgents.
In a communique issued at the end of their meeting in Kaduna, Governor Aliyu, who read out the resolution to newsmen, said the security situation in the North-East was assuming a worrying dimension.
“The forum called on the Federal Government to deploy more security personnel with superior military equipment, as well as adopt measures to boost their morale, to enable them to effectively fight the insurgents and other threats to security in the region.
“The forum called on the government to secure the country’s porous borders, by restricting trans-border movements, providing adequate funding, as well as implementing all past security reports in the country,” he said.
The governors resolved to adopt common approach towards combating insurgency in the region.
This, he said, would be done by “downplaying political differences and working towards a common goal; improving on intelligence gathering and vigorously pursuing employment and youth empowerment programmes to take idle youths off our streets.”
The governor stressed the need for the region to create a position and engender the political will that would address issues affecting the region.
“And we must take a position. If it is lack of political will on our part, we must create that political will so that from our own end, it transcends to the Federal Government and to the people of Nigeria,” he added.
According to him, the forum would also discuss ways to coordinate and regulate the operation of cattle dealers, cattle traders and abattoir operation, as well as agriculture and activities of nomadic herdsmen.
The northern governors also expressed concern over the inability of the New Nigeria Development Company (NNDC) to actualise its mission and vision.
It challenged the company to address critical issues affecting the North, “particularly human capital deficit, economic regeneration and infrastructure deficit”.
The governors also resolved to nominate the “best of brains from the North” to represent it at the forthcoming national conference.
It commended the effort of the Kano State government for banning street begging and urged other states to adopt the measure.
The communique called on the Federal Government to compensate families of security personnel killed in the Ombatse crisis in Nasarawa State.
Governors at the meeting included those of Kaduna, Kano, Kebbi, Niger, Kwara, Benue and Zamfara, while deputy governors of Jigawa, Kogi, Gombe and Katsina represented their bosses.
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