Bandits Have Overwhelmed The Military, Says Former Army Chief, Offers 5 Tips As Solutions

<h4>Bandits Have Overwhelmed The Military<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a> <&sol;strong>reports that a former Minister of Interior&comma; Lt Gen Abdulrahman Bello Dambazau &lpar;rtd&rpar;&comma; on Monday&comma; decried the high level of insecurity in Northern Nigeria&comma; saying it has reached a level where bandits and insurgents have taken over some communities&comma; tax and make laws for them&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The retired Chief of Army Staff at the First Media and Security Summit held in Birnin Kebbi&comma; Kebbi State&comma; with the theme &OpenCurlyQuote;Existential Threats and National Security’&comma; said the insecurity issue in the North has existed for over two decades&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;People were killed in Katsina&comma; Borno&comma; Zamfara and Kano mosques&period; The North has suffered from herders&sol;farmers clash&comma; terrorism and banditry&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We have gotten to a situation where bandits and insurgents have taken some of our communities&comma; taxing and making laws for them&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Thousands have been killed and millions displaced&period; The number of widows and orphans has increased&comma; and farmers have lost farms and herders’ cattle rustled without action from state actors&comma;” he said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Remedies<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As a remedy&comma; the former Army boss urged northern governors to among other things<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>&lpar;A&rpar; Establish the Ministry of Mineral Resources and liaise with relevant federal agencies to harness their natural resources&period; <&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>&lpar;B&rpar; Improve their revenue base to end poverty in their respective states and reduce the level of insecurity&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>&lpar;C&rpar; Address the spate of killings occasioned by insecurity in the North by restoring the dignity of the traditional institution&period; <&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>&lpar;D&rpar; Improve agriculture&comma; which the North is known&period; <&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>&lpar;E&rpar; Address the issue of out-of-school children and embrace social inclusion&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Over 70 per cent of those suffering from poverty occasioned by insecurity are from the North&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;Religious extremism is a major threat to security in northern Nigeria and has led groups like Boko Haram&comma; Lakurawa terrorists and bandits to unleash violence on the people&comma;” he said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Earlier&comma; the Sultan of Sokoto&comma; Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III&comma; said security is everybody’s responsibility&comma; adding that&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We need to come together to talk with each other on how to solve this problem&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We were not like this before&comma; Nigeria was not what it is today&period; We can solve the problem by coming together and having understanding&comma; and going ahead to implement the decision we reached to have peace&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In his contribution&comma; Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State said the North needs to come together to end the insecurity facing it&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Insecurity in the North West is worrisome&period; The summit should look at the root cause of it&comma; it may be due to climate change and other issues&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In his own submission&comma; Governor Nasir Idris of Kebbi stated that the summit would provide the opportunity to discuss the challenges facing the North and find solutions to them&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;