The Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, in Zamfara StateFaika Ahmed has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to establish the North West Development Commission as a means of ending insecurity in the region.
Ms. Ahmed also said that the commission will assist in the resettlement of tens of thousands of people who have been displaced in the region.
Residents of the northwestern states of Zamfara, Katsina, Sokoto, Kaduna, Kebbi and Niger in central Nigeria have been concerned for years about bandit activities that forced them to flee their villages and abandon their farmlands. .
Bandits have kidnapped hundreds of high school and college students and raped several women.
In the letter obtained by PREMIUM TIMES, Ms. Ahmed said that the government is not doing enough in using non-violent means to end insecurity in the region.
The commissioner said that only non-military efforts would bring a final solution to insecurity in the region. Therefore, he argued that the creation of the commission would alleviate the pains suffered by the inhabitants of the region and end the destruction and carnage in that part of the country.
Faika Ahmed, Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Zamfara State
“A humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding in the northwestern region of Nigeria and if an urgent and bold non-military intervention is not implemented, I fear that the problems we see today will pale in comparison to what is to come.
“I know I am not a security expert, Your Excellency, but I have spent the last 4 years working for those whose lives have been upended by these conflicts, so my conclusions are informed. With the knowledge of all the pain, destruction and carnage that I have witnessed, first hand, I unequivocally call for the establishment of the Northwest Development Commission,” he said.
The commissioner said that the conflict in the region left a great economic and humanitarian scare. He said that the creation of the commission would help
“attract the necessary assistance, including from international organizations.”
“This is critical because the devastating impact of this crisis on the overwhelming majority of people in these states is horrific. Unfortunately, the region has lost a significant population of people living in rural areas, resulting in extreme poverty in both rural and urban communities. Analysts believe that within the hardest-hit states, you won’t find small communities of 1,000 or more people, as is often the case. They have all been forced to move to larger cities with devastating consequences for their livelihoods, especially agriculture, with consequent consequences for food security and poverty,” he said.
Apart from the glaring rate of poverty in the region, Ms. Ahmed said that education, agriculture and health have been devastated by the conflict. For example, she said that students no longer go to school, leading to an increase in the number of children who do not attend school.
“As you know, Mr. President, agriculture, which is the base of economic activities in the Northwest, is now totally derailed. This source of livelihood for more than 80% of the population has ceased to exist. People find themselves torn between going to the farm and risking being kidnapped or killed, or paying a ransom to be able to farm their land,” he added.
Ms. Ahmed called on federal legislators, members of the federal executive council, and traditional and religious leaders in the region to join the call for the establishment of the commission.
Northwest Development Commission
PREMIUM TIMES reports that a bill establishing the commission passed second reading in the Senate last year.
The bill was proposed by Barau Jibrin, a senator from Kano state.
Introducing the bill, Mr. Jibrin said “the commission seeks to act as a catalyst to develop the variety of potentials in the Northwest, as well as address the region’s infrastructure development gap.”
He said the infrastructure in the area has been devastated by terrorists, leaving a huge impact on the region’s economy as it has caused severe food shortages as well as unemployment in a region that has traditionally produced cash and food crops.
“Some proposed functions of the commission include: formulating policies and guidelines for the development of the Northwest Zone where security will prevail; as well as to conceive, plan and implement projects and programs for the sustainable development of the Northwest in the field of roads, education, health, employment, industrialization, agriculture, housing and urban development, water supply, electricity and commerce,” he said. said.