- Forum Raises alarm over worsening insecurity, poverty, environmental challenges
The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has raised alarm that Northern Nigeria is progressively being driven into a tight corner amid worsening insecurity, poverty, and environmental challenges facing the region.
Rising from its 78th National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting held in Kaduna, the Forum said the North could no longer afford to remain silent in the face of escalating crises confronting its people.
The ACF, speaking through its Chairman, Mamman Osuman, said, “This is not a time for the North to fold its arms and watch while things continue to deteriorate. Our security situation is worsening, the resources of the region are being exploited, and environmental problems are mounting.”
He therefore challenged the political elite and other stakeholders on the need to forge a common front in tackling the existing and emerging challenges, saying, “We must rise and unite to defend the region.”
While expressing concern over the daily killings and other festering criminal activities in Northern Nigeria, the ACF Chairman noted that the situation has become hugely unbearable, saying, “We have lost children, young men and women, and the elderly to floods, disasters, criminals, and terrorists. The state of affairs is deeply troubling. That is why I call for sober reflection and prayers.”
In an interview with the BBC after the meeting, Bashir Hayatu Gentile,
ACF’s Special Adviser on Public Affairs, said the Forum, having thoroughly examined the challenges troubling the North, resolved that urgent action must be taken to address the unpalatable situation in the region.
He said, “These are real problems facing the North, and we must compel the government to act. Nothing is more disturbing today than insecurity, kidnappings and killings everywhere.
“That is why the ACF resolved that the North must unite and pressure the government to intensify efforts to address these pressing challenges.”
Furthermore, Gentile said the ACF Chairman, in his speech at the Kaduna meeting, informed the Federal Government that the patience of the North was “wearing thin.”
He stated that, “The ACF Chairman called on the government to change its strategies to stop this devastation. He said Northern patience is running out and that government must act decisively.”
Gentile said the ACF expressed deep concern over a recent report by Amnesty International (AI) which revealed that 10,217 people were killed in just two years of President Bola Tinubu’s administration, all in Northern Nigeria.
Also, he lamented that beyond the killings, mass abductions and village raids have become a near-daily occurrence in Northern Nigeria
Citing the recent unfortunate incident in Malumfashi Local Government Area of Katsina State where armed men stormed a mosque during dawn prayers, killing and burning worshippers, Gentile said, “The report said 27 people were killed, but from what we gathered, the figures were even higher.”
Similarly, the ACF Chieftain frowned at government officials’ silence on Amnesty’s findings, saying the refusal to refute the figures confirmed the severity of the crisis.
According to Gentile, “Since Amnesty released the report, no government official has denied it. This is why the ACF insists that Nigeria’s security framework must be overhauled.”
