Killings: NEC Warns Enough Is Enough
- Raises committee to end herdsmen’s impunity
BY AMOS DUNIA, ABUJA – The 84th National Economic Council (NEC), on Thursday constituted a 10-man working committee to address brutal killings by herdsmen in the country.
The first NEC meeting for the year 2018, presided over by the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, said that it is high time to say enough is enough to the wanton killings and destruction of property by the killer herdsmen.
The 10-member team is headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. Other members include the Governors of Kaduna, Zamfara, Taraba, Benue, Adamawa, Edo, Plateau, Oyo and Ebonyi States.
Briefing journalists at the end of the NEC meeting, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State, accompanied by his Ebonyi State counterpart, Dave Umahi, said the committee would collaborate with the Federal Government in addressing impunity regarding killings and violence.
Ganduje further said that the committee will work to ensure that all the perpetrators of violence are brought to book.
It is believed that thousands of herdsmen, mainly from the Fulani ethnic group, have moved southwards in the last few years as a result of climate change and desertification in the north thereby putting pressure on dwindling fertile land amid rapid population growth.
At least some hundreds of people are believed to have been killed since the beginning of the year by herdsmen.
The NEC comprises Governors of the 36 states of the Federation, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Minister of Budget and National Planning, Minister of Finance and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
