Northern Governors Launch Regional Fund to Battle Insecurity
The Northern States Governors’ Forum (NSGF) has announced the establishment of a regional security trust fund to combat the escalating insecurity ravaging the region, with member states and local governments set to contribute a combined sum of at least N1 billion monthly.
According to a report by TheCable, this resolution was reached on Monday during a high-level joint meeting between the governors and the Northern Traditional Rulers’ Council (NTRC) at the Sir Kashim Ibrahim House in Kaduna.
In a communiqué read by the Chairman of the Forum and Governor of Gombe State, Inuwa Yahaya, the leaders agreed that the security situation in the North has reached an existential tipping point, requiring urgent, homegrown financial and strategic interventions.
“In order to effectively confront the security crises in the North, the forum resolved to set up a regional Security Trust Fund to be funded with monthly contributions of one billion naira from each state and local government to be deducted at source under a framework to be agreed upon,” the statement read.
Beyond financing, the governors identified illegal mining as a major fuel for the banditry and terrorism plaguing the region.
Consequently, the Forum resolved to strongly recommend that President Bola Tinubu direct the Minister of Solid Minerals to immediately suspend all mining activities in the North for six months.
This suspension, according to the governors, would allow for a comprehensive audit of the sector.
“Subject all mining licences to revalidation for a period of six months in active consultation with the various state governors and, in the process, arrest the menace of artisanal illegal mining,” the communiqué added.
Support for State Police
The Northern governors also reaffirmed their “wholehearted support” for the creation of State Police, a shift from the region’s historical reticence on the matter.
They urged federal and state lawmakers from the region to expedite the necessary constitutional amendments to make decentralized policing a reality.
The forum commended President Tinubu for his administration’s efforts in securing the release of abducted schoolchildren in Kebbi and other victims across the region, pledging their continued cooperation with the Federal Government to restore peace.
