Kaduna State Governor Malam Nasir el-Rufai has said that the insecurity in the North West is far worse than the Boko Haram crisis in the North East.
According to el-Rufai, the banditry and kidnapping in the North West has crippled the economy.
Speaking to State House Corresponds on Thursday, el-Rufai said: “I am persuaded that the insurgency in the northwest is far more serious than Boko Haram both in terms of the numbers of the people affected. I have shown you the numbers in Kaduna. I can assure you that the numbers on Zamfara, and Katsina are up to three times this if they are keeping taps. The numbers in Sokoto, Niger, and Kebbi will be about this,”
According to the governor, “We are talking of tens of thousands of people getting killed, getting kidnapped. It is far more serious than Boko Haram. The only thing is that these guys don’t occupy territory, they are in the forest and ungoverned spaces. So, they do not attract the kind of single minded attention that Boko Haram does. And because Boko Haram’s ideology is religious, intentionally religious, it elicits more passion but really, this is a far more serious problem.
“Because, this is a situation largely in which people of about the same ethnicity, same religion are killing each other, stealing each other’s property. Creating an industry out of criminality. It’s very, very serious and it requires single minded attention.
“Yes, we know where these bandits are, we have the maps. But somebody has to go in and kill them. I can’t do that. If that somebody doesn’t have enough men, doesn’t have enough fire power, doesn’t have technology, no one is going to commit suicide. This is why under this administration, Nigeria’s governors forum collaborated with the federal government to take money from the excess crude account to buy super Tocano jets and other armaments to strengthen our Defence system, ” the governor added.
