Katsina state Governor Aminu Masari has banned non-government organisations (NGOs) from going into any of the internally-displaced persons (IDPs) camps in state.
Masari, who spoke at the army special super camp IV, Faskari, on Monday, said the state has the capacity to take care of the displaced persons.
Explaining the reason for his decision, the governor said he wants the displaced persons to return to their homes because their continued stay at the camps creates opportunities for bandits to attack.
Masari said;
We will not allow these NGOs under whatever guise into our IDPs camps. We know that the fight against bandits and banditry is not over, but we can handle our displaced persons adequately because we have sufficient food, clothing, shelter, and security for them while we strengthen efforts in restoring security for them to return to their respective homes.
He stated;
We want the IDPs to return to their homes as soon as possible because leaving them at the camp is what is giving opening for those wanting to prolong banditry.
Governor Masari further disclosed that they are looking for ways of recreating the local security council to address the challenges of banditry.
He added;
As a government, there are certain actions, which we need to take; actions that are non-kinetic, actions that are administrative, actions that will make us look back at laws governing our local communities. My own thinking is that the local government reforms of 1976, which has taken all authorities from local institutions and vesting it on nobody.
The Governor expressed;
As a government, we are going through the archives to see how we can recreate village security council and every Ward in Katsina state will have similar committee to recreate village security council. This village security council also can stray down to remote and smaller areas so that we can have those that can be held responsible.
He expressed that future dialogue should be conducted in each and every village by these community council, stressing;
I think it will help greatly because the military is working very hard to restore normalcy but after that, we need to maintain and sustain peace in the villages and communities.
