Secretary-General of Arewa Consultative Forum, Mr Murtala Aliyu, has urged the Federal Government to adopt a non-kinetic approach to addressing insecurity in the north.

Aliyu stated this while featuring at the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum in Abuja on Wednesday.

The ACF scribe expressed regret that the zone, which used to be a quiet and nice place to live in, had now become an epicenter of insecurity.

“From Boko Haram in the North-East to farmer-herders crisis in the North-Central and banditry in the North-West, various governments had made efforts. Though we have achieved some milestones, there is still a lot to be done about the insecurity in the country.

“In moving from one place to another, like from Funtua to Gusau, Gusau to Kauran-Namoda, Kaduna to Birni-Gwari, parts of Danbua to Maidugiri, Biu to Damaturu, pray that you are not kidnapped for ransom. There is still the risk.

“So there are still challenges in the security of the nation and government must take steps to finding solutions to it; government has mostly used the kinetic approach and I think there is a need for expansion beyond the kinetic approach.

“I know there were cases where bandits were engaged; some of them had given up and captives were released,” he said.

According to Aliyu, insecurity in the north is already affecting food production, as farmers are not allowed to go to their farms, adding that even where they farm, they have to pay some unofficial taxes which add to the prices of food.

“Free movement is affected; the confidence of community members is affected; these are some of the challenges that government needs to sit down and address,” he said.

The secretary-general said that as a socio-cultural group, the forum was marking efforts to ensure security of lives and property in the zone.

He said that ahead of the 2023 general elections, the forum met with the five leading presidential candidates and presented papers to them containing its major concerns.

Aliyu said that this papers contained actions requiring urgent attention, including security, education and poverty alleviation.

Aliyu said that the forum tasked all the candidates to prioritise the issues raised, adding that the north covers almost 80 per cent of the country’s landmark and hosts more than half of the population.

“If you have about 75 per cent of land mass submerged in insecurity and over half of the population in a tensed environment, then you are in trouble,” he said.

Although the secretary-general acknowledged that there had been great progress under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu, he, howeve, said that there was still much to be done to secure the zone.

He said that the report of the forum’s security committee, headed by a former Chief of Army Staff, Retired Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Danbazau and a former Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, would be ready soon.

“We have done similar things on peace and reconciliation among communities in the north, between farmers and herders, on religious tension and so on.

“That committee is working and soon, the draft report will be ready and when we finish finetuning it, it will be out for the public,” he said.(NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Edited by ‘Wale Sadeeq