The Sultan of Sokoto Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III and Northern governors yesterday called for drastic measures to tackle hunger, joblessness and insecurity.
The revered monarch, who spoke at the sixth executive committee meeting of the Northern Traditional Rulers Council, which he chairs, said the region was sitting on a keg of gunpowder with youth unemployment.
The meeting had the theme: “Enhanced security as the panacea for stability and development of the North.”
Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani expressed concern about worsening insecurity, saying the North must unite to arrest the situation.
The Sultan, flanked by the Emir of Kano Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero and the Emir of Katsina Alhaji Abdulmumini Kabir, said: “Insecurity and the rising level of poverty are two issues that we cannot fold our arms about and think everything is okay.
“I have said it so many times and at so many fora that things are not okay in Nigeria and in the North.
“We owe it a duty to the teeming millions of people that believe in the traditional institution, to bring solutions to the various problems facing them. We will not fail in doing that. We will do our best.
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“I have said so many times that we don’t lack solutions to our problems. What we lack is implementation.
“We meet and bring out so many beautiful ideas on how to solve our problems; but we go back to our various places and go to bed, leaving such solutions here in this conference hall. So, how do we implement them?”
The Sultan said his people have hope that things will be better.
“Let’s not take things for granted. People are quiet because we have been talking to them.
“We have been trying to tell them things will be okay and they keep on believing.
“I pray to Almighty Allah that they will not one day wake up and say: ‘We no longer believe in you.’
“That will be the biggest problem because we can’t quieten these people as traditional, spiritual leaders and diplomats forever.
“We must find jobs for our teeming youths that are sitting idle.
“I have said it so many times, we sitting on a keg of gunpowder having teeming youths, millions of them, without jobs, without food. We are looking for trouble.”
Sani, represented by his Deputy, Dr Hadiza Balarabe, called on Northern states to forge strong partnerships.
He said: “Agriculture, power and infrastructure, especially roads are critical areas where we must collaborate to revitalise our economy and address the challenges of poverty and insecurity.
“Going forward, Northern states must develop a common strategy and operational plan to tackle insecurity.
“We must establish a command and control centre to coordinate our joint efforts against terrorists, bandits, kidnappers and other criminal elements within this region.
“Northern traditional rulers must take the lead in the execution of psychological operations geared towards winning the hearts and minds of the people at the grassroots.
“You have a huge responsibility to mobilise and sensitise our people to support security forces to degrade terrorists and bandits.
“We must establish early warning systems and intelligence gathering mechanisms within our communities.
“Our main weapons must be people because terrorists, bandits insurgents also live amongst us. Traditional rulers have bigger roles to play within our communities.
“We must restore the glory of the traditional institution if we want better for our security and stability.”
Director-General of State Security Service (SSS), Yusuf Magaji Bichi, represented by the State Director of Security (SSS), Alhaji Abdul Enenche, urged the traditional institution to help identify threats.
“Informants keep frustrating the role of security agencies. They live amongst communities.
“This underscores the role of traditional rulers who can assist security agencies in fishing out insider threats,” he said.
<<The Nation>>
