Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed Abdulkadir has on Wednesday described insecurity in the northeast as the greatest challenge facing the governors of the northeast region of the country.
Governor Mohammed made the remarks at the opening ceremony of the 4th North East Governors’ Forum Meeting taking place in Bauchi.
The governor who calls for a concerted effort among stakeholders in the country as a means of addressing the enduring security challenge in the region said; “we have failed as a government if we are unable to secure the lives and property of our people”.
“We must muster the courage to address the security challenge facing our region, and to do that, we must empower our local security architecture.
“Despite our travails, we must be ready to have the courage to confront the challenges.”
The governor said the northeast region must dovetail various initiative, including harnessing the agricultural potentials of the region to provide job opportunities for the youth, which he says will help tame the security challenges.
Also Speaking, the Chairman of the northeast governors’ forum Professor Babagana Zulum, Governor of Borno State said the federal government should consider hiring foreign mercenaries to address the Boko Haram insurgency in the region.
Zulum who said the governors of the region were worried about the security challenges posed by Boko Haram lamented that infrastructural challenge bedeviling the region has contributed significantly.
“For us to address the problem of insecurity, out of school children, infrastructural challenges, we must stem down corruption in order to succeed”, Zulum said.
