The Governor of Katsina State, Aminu Bello Masari, has said that there cannot be any development without peace, adding that “we are the architect of our own problems.”
Masari stated this on Monday while receiving the leadership of the Coalition of Northern Groups led by Alhaji Nastru Ashiru Sheriff at the Government House, Katsina.
The Governor said, “We value politics and positions more than our people. I want you to propagate the fact that this issue of security should be off partisan politics and until it is treated as such we will not learn from our mistakes.
“We are the architect of our own problems, the forest areas were neglected since we got oil money and together with the herders, the cattle routes were destroyed because some of them had become sedentary farming on cattle routes and grazing lands.”
He further asserted that “we have to stabilize the region now,” adding that, the bandits must be educated and gainfully employed.
In his opinion, “I don’t believe that those people who have no opportunity, for no fault of theirs, to have gone to school cannot be fully engaged.
“This is a big opportunity to engage them. These people if we abandon them with their children, it is a time bomb waiting to explode, but if we can employ over 50,000 of them, they can, in turn, educate their children and would-be making progress.”
Masari then noted that the issue of security is everybody’s business, adding that collectively,
The governor, therefore, charged all to see security as everybody’s business, saying that collectively, “we must fight it and avoid partisan politics as it is another cancer in the system that destroys associations and divide families.”
The CNG board chairman had earlier said they were in Katsina to thank and commend Governor Masari for his leadership by recognizing the seriousness of the situation and keeping his promise of ensuring the safe return of the abducted schoolboys.
Sheriff, in his word, recommended for the articulation of a workable framework for advovacy to effectively reach and interact with all parties. This included the bandits and the estranged public.
