In March, 2020, the six governors of the Northeast states of Borno, Gombe, Taraba, Adamawa, Bauchi and Yobe met in Gombe state to forge a common vision towards the advancement and development of the region. However, for a region that is ravaged by breakdown of security with insurgents terrorizing Adamawa and Borno and frequent clashes between herdsmen and farmers in Taraba and other parts of the region, development would be a mirage ifsecurity is not tackled as the base.
At the Gombe meeting, the governors agreed among other things to provide all necessary support to the North East Development Commission in order to achieve its objectives. The forum also demanded that projects that would be implemented by the NEDC should be demand-driven approach that considered the priority needs of the region.
On other areas of economic development of the zone, the governors promised to support local content initiatives with all development programmes related to the region. They promised to support the initiatives that would ensure the Mambila Hydro Power Projects in order to improve productivity in the region and Nigeria at large.
However noble and promising these commitments may be, the security situation of the region poses threat to its development. To this end, the governors met for the second time last Saturday, to discuss the way out of the security challenges in the region.
The governors challenge the armed forces to intensify efforts to secure hard-to-reach areas in the region and ensure safe access to farmlands, while also calling on the Federal government to deploy state of the art military hardware to the region to fight the insurgents and other security threats.
Taking the bull by the horn and to show how desperate the region is, in the need for economic and security development, less than 48 hours after the governors meeting in Maiduguri, they met with President Muhammadu Buhari to discuss the security challenges and way forward for the region. The meeting on Monday was also attended by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and the service chiefs.
The Governor of Borno State, Prof. Babagana Zulum, who briefed journalists after the meeting said the governors called the attention of President Buhari to the causes of the insurgency in the region, which are not limited to endemic poverty and hunger and the need to address it.
He pointed out that the insurgents are able to recruit more foot soldiers into their sects due to the inability of people to resettle in their original homes and lack of access to their farmlands. He said creating an enabling environment would enable the people to go about their normal duties and reduce the cases of insurgency.
Since the decade-old insurgency in the region, the governors are for the first time forging common goal for the safety and economic development of the region. There is however ray of hope with the drive the forum adopts to push for the safety of all Nigerians in the region.
