Northern govs vow to tackle Boko Haram violence

Posted by admin Boko Haram, Latest Politics Thursday, March 8th, 2012

Governor of Niger State, Dr. Babangida Aliyu

The governors of the 19 northern states on Thursday in Kaduna said they have resolved to deal decisively with the problem of insecurity posed by the militant Islamic sect, the Boko Haram in the region.

The governors, who met at the General Hassan Usman Katsina State House, Kaduna, amid very tight security provided by all the security agencies, said though they were ready for dialogue “with moderate people”, they would no longer condone criminality in the region.

The Chairman of the Northern States Governors’ Forum, Dr. Babangida Aliyu of Niger State, who read the communiqué at the end of the over six-hour meeting, stated that the northern governors had decided to adopt a practical and “integrated regional approach” towards combating the menace of the Boko Haram and other criminal elements in the region.

Aliyu stressed that after deliberating extensively on the alarming rate of insecurity in the Northern states, the governors concluded that the region needed an integrated approach for tackling “these unfortunate new realities.”

The NSGF chairman added that the “pragmatic, holistic and integrated regional approach” to be adopted by all the Northern states in checking the current insecurity would be implemented through the collective efforts of all the security agencies.

He said, “We are happy to note that insecurity is subsiding. Where dialogue will work, we will dialogue and we will work with moderate people. We will go all out, we’ll not justify criminality.

“The Forum, after extensive deliberation, resolved to constitute a committee to monitor the implementation of the Federal Government White Paper on security challenges in the North East Zone.”

Earlier during the opening ceremony of the meeting, the NSGF chairman described the current worsening security situation occasioned by the Boko Haram insurgency as the worst challenge that had confronted the North since the Nigerian civil war.

He expressed regret that the rising wave of violence in the region had further worsened the poverty and underdevelopment that had for long ravaged the region.

He said, “The North has probably never been in greater need for peace, investments and development than now, which necessitates the need for all of us, and I mean all of us, to come together to act in precise directions to bring an end to poverty, ignorance and illiteracy that have become endemic in our communities.”

-Punchwp_posts