Activities of Bandits and terrorists operating in Katsina state have forced the hands of local government authorities to lock up schools in their areas to ensure the safety of students thereby debasing education sector in the state.
Wazirin Katsina and a former member of the Presidential Committee on Insecurity Prof San Lugga, made this disclosure in Ilorin, Kwara state capital on Monday at a strategic management retreat organised by Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution, (IPCR).
According to him, all the district heads at the eight LGAs have relocated to the capital city of Katsina while two major roads in the state have been abandoned because of the activities of the insurgents.
He said killings and abduction take place every day in the state in the last two and half years, declaring the situation as a war.
“There is no single day in the last two and half years that somebody will not be killed or abducted in the state. It is really a state of war. It is more than conflict,” he stressed.
He also identified poverty and unemployment; out of school children; proliferation of light arms and ammunition; corruption; poor police welfare and misuse of religion as some of the causes of insecurity in the country.
Also speaking, Minister of Foreign Affairs Geoffrey Onyeama represented by Ambassador Samson Itegboye urged IPCR to partner with the state to establish peace agencies.
Chief Onyeama said that “I will like to encourage states to set up state peace agents. Currently, there are three states Plateau, Kaduna and Adamawa that have established peace agencies and commissions to address communal conflicts and the role of insurgents.
These strategies in my view, offer a precautionary approach to tackling root causes of violence. The hope of a stable Africa is hinged on Nigeria being a major player in the continent. To play the role very well we need to restructure our country on the path of sustainable peace.
“Traditional rulers play pivotal roles in settling community disputes and conflicts which are the major causes of security threat bedevilling our country today. The partnership with the National Assembly is apt in that everyone in the country is represented in the National Assembly through their representatives in both the Senate and House of Representatives, making the zonal intervention project a strategic avenue through which a strategically designed and implement projects to build capacity and empower traditional rulers and all community stakeholders to strictly community peacekeeping structures and foster peaceful coexistence across the country,” he said.
