The Former Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, (APC) Kaduna State Caucus, and Executive Chairman of ATAR Communications Nig Ltd, Founder/Owner of LibertyTV and FM Radio stations, Alhaji (Dr.) Ahmed Tijjani Ramalan, has identified poverty as the major factor fuelling the current insecurity in the States of Zamfara Sokoto, Katsina Kaduna, Kano, and Jigawa in the North-West zone.
In an issued statement on Friday, the Party Chieftain and veteran broadcaster said any State government that failed to address the issues of poverty and continues with impoverishment policies on its rural and urban citizens will have insecurity and violence to contend with in the build-up to the 2023 General Elections and thereafter.
Alhaji Ramalan also said there is no hope for Northern Nigerian citizens under the current insecurity situation in the North-West zone, due to lack of united action by the State governors, especially in the forest areas under the control of bandits, and likened it to “taking one step forward and five steps backward” in the war against banditry in the zone.
He argued that, as things are right now, human security policies and actions of the Federal and State Governments are urban-based and faulty and not working in most of the northern parts of the country, with over 90% percent of the rural, semi-urban and urban areas are living below the poverty level, making it a breeding and recruiting ground for bandits, terrorists, thereby making kidnapping a lucrative business in the region.
“The Northern regional political leaders have abandoned the rich human and material resources which can make the region compete favourably with the other oil-rich and revenue-generating maritime zones of the country”, he stated.
