The Katsina Security Summit Albatross

This week, governors of states in the North West geopolitical zone, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), held a 2-day Peace and Security Summit in Katsina metropolis, the capital of Katsina State. The high-powered summit was aimed at combating insecurity in the region that is currently bearing the worst brunt of banditry and other criminal activities.

Convened as part of the overarching need to have a coordinated approach to tackling the seemingly intractable incidence of terrorism that is sweeping across the region, organisers said the summit with the theme, “Regional Cooperation for Securing Lives and Livelihoods,” was to offer practical and workable solutions to the challenges of insecurity, “focusing on promoting peace and stability, while strengthening cooperation among state governments to tackle these complex issues”.

Although the menace of terrorism is not peculiar to the North West as states in other regions of the country also contend with the activities of these killers, the Northwestern states of Katsina, Zamfara, Kaduna and Sokoto, have of recent witnessed increased cases of killings and abduction for ransom.

It is estimated that no fewer than 500 persons have been killed in these states in the last three months, with properties worth hundreds of millions destroyed and hundreds of millions of naira paid as ransom to terror elements who have become so audacious that they impose taxes on farmers as a condition for either cultivating their lands or harvesting food crops.

Alarmingly, we have come to accept as a new normal, the fact that residents of some of the predominantly agrarian communities in these states must pay before they can do something as common and basic as going to their farms.

As should be expected, these killings and abductions which have become the norm, especially in some communities in local government areas of Katsina, Zamfara and other states, have far reaching implications.

Indeed, the choice of Katsina State as host for this summit, the first of its kind to be convened by the region, is very apt. It is even more so as the state and its residents have had to, and still do, contend with the activities of these terror groups who kill and abduct almost on a daily basis.

Governors’ poor turnout

Although the summit strived to strengthen the shared resolve of governors and other critical stakeholders in the region to ensure a safer environment for all and serve as a platform for not just dialogue but action intended to concretize strategies for enhancing peace and security in the region, the lukewarm attitude of the state governors clearly manifested in the fact that more than half of them were conspicuously absent. Only three out of the seven governors of the region attended the summit.

Governors Dauda Lawal Dare of Zamfara and his Jigawa State counterpart, Umar Namadi and their host, Malam Umaru Dikko Radda, were the only governors present at the event, while some of their colleagues sent their deputies to represent them.

There is nothing that demonstrates the seriousness with which governors attach to an issue like their physical presence. Therefore, the four governors who were conspicuously absent, with three sending their deputies and one of them represented by the SSG, have demonstrated in unmistaken terms that finding solution to these seemingly intractable security challenges is not a priority. Sad!

Some of these governors have accused politicians, civil servants and security personnel of being responsible for these unending terror attacks. Perhaps, their presence would have provided them the opportunity to devise clear-cut measures of finding lasting solutions to this menace, including going after those perceived to be fueling these dastardly acts.

Collective efforts

But combating the insecurity that has ravaged the region demands collective action from all the governors who are chief security officers of their respective states.

There are instances where the terror elements, in the face of intense shelling by security operatives in Katsina State for instance, run down to Zamfara to take shelter only to regroup and relaunch attacks on communities once the shelling subsides.

This would be effectively addressed if there is a synergy between the governors to ensure an all-out war taking place, possibly at about the same time so as to deny these terrorists escape route.

As should be expected, discussions at the summit focused on “exploring sustainable approaches to advancing food security and fostering sustainable livelihoods, while examining how different regional actors can support and enhance regional cooperation and integrated solutions for the region’s future development.” But will these governors, most of whom were absent at the summit, commit to implementation of its outcome?

Unlike America

It is disgusting that some of these governors who deliberately refused to travel a few kilometres from their respective states to attend the Katsina summit travelled to far away United States for a security summit convened by the Africa Centre at the United States Institute for Peace sometime in April this year.

Will it be right to assume that they may have been driven by the allure of estacode which is clearly lacking in the case of the Katsina summit which was a local trip?

Curiously, months after the widely publicized and hence widely talked about summit in the United States, insecurity has not abated in the region, suggesting clearly that the governors may well have gone on a jamboree.

Frequent attacks on Danmusa

Curiously, while Katsina State was preparing for the summit, the bandits, early this week, struck at Maidabino community in Danmusa local government area of the state where they killed no fewer than nine persons and abducted over fifty residents, including women, children and other vulnerable citizens.

It is sad that communities in Danmusa local government have experienced deadly attacks and abductions by the terrorists which occurred almost on a daily basis. Residents confirmed that these attacks which often end with loss of lives and abduction, occur regularly in communities of DanAli, DanMusa, Maidabino among others.

But why is Danmusa prone to attacks? Incidentally, Katsina State Commissioner for Internal Security, Nasiru Muazu, is a native of Danmusa local government and had even served as council chairman. Are the terrorists focusing more on his local government to prove a point?

It is apposite to note that the fact that these terror elements attack Danmusa almost on a daily basis provides an opportunity for the security operatives to focus more on communities in the area councils.