By Luminous Jannamike

Northern Elders Forum, NEF, has asked State Governors to go beyond the imposition of economic and social lockdown on communities besieged by terrorists, and facilitate an aggressive and effective military assault on the bandits.

The Forum also advised the governors against allowing the perception that communities were on their own, even in the face of severe security threats, to take deeper roots.

NEF Director, Publicity and Advocacy, Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, made this known in a statement on Sunday titled, ‘Security of Besieged Communities’.

The Forum said, “We are closely following the condition of many Northern communities that have become particularly vulnerable to attacks and abuse by bandits, kidnappers and related organized criminals.

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“Measures being taken by some State governments such as suspension of weekly markets, restrictions on sale of petrol, closure of schools and some roads, curfews, movement of cattle and plans to restrict communication will compound the desperate conditions of living of many communities in the North.

“These measures represent virtual economic and social lockdowns on people who had been  at the mercy of criminals for a long time. Unless they are accompanied by an aggressive and effective assault on the banditry and kidnapping industry, they will merely add to the misery and hopelessness of our communities.

“Worse, they could further embolden the bandit and the kidnappers when it becomes clear that governments and security agencies cannot go beyond lockdowns on communities.

“Communities themselves will lose even more faith in the capacity of the Nigerian State to respond to their desperate circumstances. The perception that communities are on their own must never be allowed to take deeper roots, but it will, when people see only the bandit and the kidnapper winning.

“State governments imposing additional hardships on communities must know that the measures they are introducing must produce tangible results within a period that makes them meaningful and tolerable.” 

The Forum, therefore, called on the federal government to assist States to relieve communities that were living under additional pressures.

Vanguard News Nigeria