Governors of Nigeria’s North-West states have demanded a review of the ECOWAS protocol on free movement of goods and people to check the influx of bandits into the country and end the killings in several states.
The governors made the demand on Saturday when the met in Kaduna to discuss issues affecting the region and what they think may be fueling the herdsmen-farmers conflict.
They believe that climate change and slow economic development are also among the factors fueling the conflict.
Chairman of the North-West Governors Forum, Governor Aminu Masari of Katsina State told journalists – after the forum met for about five hours behind closed doors at the Kaduna State Government House – that efforts to end the conflict must go beyond sending the military and police to areas affected by killings.
“What do you do to make sure it doesn’t happen again? That is where the issue of education, agriculture and livestock come in,” he said.
Although Governor Masari acknowledged that governors have “limited powers” with regards to the military and police, he pledged that they would continue to support the security agencies and military, while doing other things to ensure peace.
“Basically, at home, we are doing so many things to make sure that this conflict between herders and farmers that gave rise to cattle rustling and other forms of kidnapping, banditry, will be addressed,” said.
Other issues discussed during the meeting, according to the Jigawa State Commissioner for Education, Rabi Ishaq, centres on how to integrate the Almajiri into formal basic education as well as how the member states could collaborate to develop uniform strategies and models to address the menace of out of school children in the zone and the north in general.
Saturday’s meeting is the first to be held by the governors since the North-West Governors Forum was inaugurated earlier this year with Governor Aminu Bello Masari as the Chairman.
Apart from Governor Masari, the deputy governors of Kaduna, Jigawa and Sokoto states as well as some commissioners of education from the member states and development partners were at the meeting.
