The Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) has called on the Federal Government to intensify efforts to curb the general and pervasive insecurity across the country as well as the rampant intake of drugs and dangerous substances in order to have a successful 2023 general election.
This is even as the Katsina State chapter of the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) has described Governor Aminu Bello Masari’s call for citizens to bear arms for protection as a clear indication that the government has failed.
In a statement, yesterday, the CNG spokesman, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, said that Nigerians expect the government to bring a conclusive end to the daunting security challenges that characterised the country last year.
According to the statement, “In the North, especially, government, should, with the entire national resolve behind its efforts, work to achieve final disengagement, disarmament, demobilisation, reintegration and reconstruction within the next few months. Unless this is done as quickly as possible, the 2023 elections would be greatly threatened and that would, in turn, affect the nation’s democratic progress and set the country back several decades.”
It explained that it expected the Federal Government to review and improve the current structure of the national security assets, increase the number of boots on the ground, improve quality of equipment and greater synergy with the communities.
The CNG advised state governments in the north to listen to advice, design a uniform approach to the insecurity situation with the full involvement of the communities.
CNG opined that the drug situation in the North is one of the most serious social and security challenges facing the region and the country today.
It stated that no nation can aspire to greatness or seek to remain secure and safe when its youth and the productive segments of society were left to indulge in self-destructive practices like drug and substance abuse.
It said the serious challenges the region is faced with ought not to be treated with the level of levity and condescension shown by the governors of the affected northern states with a view of finding a way out to the problem.
Suleiman suggested that the security problem must be confronted collectively with the entire will and resolve of the people behind the effort if it was to build on the current successes by the gallant troops in the North-East in order to ensure a peaceful society.
The statement explained that failure to take necessary steps would indubitably mean that every effort made in isolation would defeat all the endeavours, and render the task of ending the crisis more difficult and futile.
It called on all to become stakeholders and be committed actors in the struggle to free the society and the country of the debilitating problem.
Similarly, the Katsina State chapter of the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) has described Governor Aminu Masari’s call on citizens to bear arms for protection as a clear indication that the government has failed.
The CNG North-West Coordinator, Jamilu Charanchi, while briefing newsmen in the state, yesterday, said “without a doubt, citizens acquiring weapons in the name of self-defence will increase bandit cells, lead to greater instability and deepen insecurity.”
He added, “Your Excellency Sir, you should perish your thought of self-defence and admit to the great people of Katsina that you are no longer in control and cannot foster solutions to their societal problems, then, seek for a genuine help or kindly resign. The state and the good people of the state need and deserve better governance.”
According to the CNG, the Masari-led government “is currently displaying its incapacity or unwillingness to tame the monster of insecurity, thereby exposing Nigerian security forces to danger and sending civilians to early graves.”
On the way out of the insecurity bedevilling the state, “CNG implores the government to fight unemployment, poverty, and illiteracy, holistically and with all sincerity of purpose which is the tripod upon which banditry has been nurtured to its current monstrous stage.”
The CNG further said aside from the challenges of border porosity, “Katsina State is leading in two of the most influential variables, triggering criminality and other social vices in the country, unemployment and poverty.”
While using data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) for the last quarter of 2020, showing that “Katsina has 25.5per cent unemployment rate with about 438,808 people unemployed, CNG described the predicament as a sign of danger resulting from the failure of effective leadership.”
In this regard, Charanchi said, “it is ridiculous to think of arming hungry and angry people of a state like Katsina with a poverty rate of close to 80per cent, making it second poorest state in Nigeria and expect to achieve positive results. How will you expect an already vulnerable civilian who has been subjected to bad governance presented with an opportunity to possess arm end banditry?”
The CNG challenged the government to wake up to their responsibilities, saying that “Governance is not just about enjoying the perks of office and shifting responsibilities to the vulnerable but rather a selfless service that requires commitment, dedication and the willingness to systemically guide once followers in the right direction. There is therefore the need for leaders to rise up and address the root cause of banditry. Weapon proliferation is already a problem and we should not add to it.”
While wishing Masari a happy New Year, the CNG urged him to pay more attention to the fight to alleviate poverty, reduce unemployment, economic hardship and most importantly, prioritize the lives of people most of which sacrificed a lot to see him in office.