• Masari: Northern governors can stop herdsmen, farmers’ clashes
Governor Mohammed Abubakar of Bauchi State has said the creation of state police will begin the implementation of true federalism in the country.
He stated this on Tuesday at the end of the high table dialogue on ethical values and national security in Abuja.
The event was also used to launch the Integrity and Service Programme (ISP) of the President Muhammadu Buhari Administration.
“The nation is a federation, the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria provides for a federal system.
“And in a federal system, the federating units are all independent in their own sphere of influence.
“We copied the constitution from the American constitution and if you go to United States you will discover that there is the county police, state police and then federal police.
“If we are going to engender true federalism, that is probably the beginning.’’
On likelihood that states might abuse state police, the governor stated that this would not happen in spite of the fears.
“That is our bane; we should think in terms of developing institutions.
“When we develop institutions and they plant their root they take care of the indiscreet behaviours of individuals,’’ he stated.
On the inauguration of the ISP, he said it was not a political document to prepare grounds for the 2019 national elections, but a factual compendium.
“The dialogue is aimed at addressing the current problems of the nation. The need for us to forge unity, and consider the challenges that are affecting the nation carefully without unnecessarily overheating the nation.’’
Meanwhile, Governor Aminu Masari of Katsina State has asked the 19 northern governors to marshal out strategies that would checkmate herders-farmers clashes which have resulted in loss of lives in the region.
Masari stated this during a visit by the newly elected Chairman of the Correspondents Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Katsina Council, Abdulhamid Sabo.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the governor spoke two days after his Kano State counterpart, Abdullahi Ganduje, invited Fulani herdsmen facing challenges in grazing their cattle in different parts of the country to come and establish themselves in the state.
Ganduje said the recent killings linked to the farmers-herders crisis were unwarranted especially since Kano had a wide expanse of land, including dedicated grazing reserves that remained largely underutilised.
Masari said the governors had the capacity to surmount the herders/farmers clashes which had caused the deaths of several people.
He said the region had enough land that could contain the herders and their cattle in one place instead of roaming about.
“With unity and understanding all the governors can stop the cattle rearers from roaming about.
“We can settle them in one place and provide basic necessities of life, especially education for them in order to have peaceful co-existence in the region,†he said.
Commenting on the Zik Foundation Award conferred on him for rural development, the governor said that his administration was determined to advance the living standards of his people through careful planning.
“My administration is ready to make careful planning and implement policies and programmes that will improve the living standards of the common man in the state.
“The state government is always ready to partner with media practitioners to discharge their duties effectively,†he said.
