The Northern Elders Forum (NEF), has expressed concern over
President Bola Tinubu’s national address on the ongoing hunger protests.
The NEF said the President was silent on the severe security
situation in the North-West and other parts of the North.
In a statement released on Monday by its Director of
Publicity and Advocacy, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, the NEF lamented the escalating
issues of banditry, kidnapping, rape and other criminal activities in the
region that have caused widespread fear and insecurity.
The Forum equally noted that there are challenges in
policing northern communities, where criminal elements continue to cause harm,
resulting in abandoned farmlands, closed schools and destroyed livelihoods.
The NEF expressed disappointment that the President’s speech
did not address these pressing issues or offer reassurance to affected
communities.
It regretted that despite choosing not to comment on the
ongoing protests in the country — thereby remaining committed to peace and
national stability — the Forum had hoped for the President’s acknowledgment of
the North-West’s struggles and other affected regions.
“They anticipated words of encouragement and an assurance of
concrete steps being taken to alleviate the security challenges faced by these
communities. The NEF had high hopes for the President’s speech, expecting that
he would address the dire humanitarian disaster that criminal activities have
brought upon our nation.”
According to the NEF, the scale of the crisis is immense,
with millions of the citizens displaced internally, and hundreds of thousands
of orphans facing hunger and malnourishment. The Forum described the challenges
as new and alarming realities that were previously unknown in the land.
The Forum added that it is essential that the magnitude of
the challenge is not underestimated, and expressed the belief that dealing with
the humanitarian disaster in the North will require a level of political will
and administrative competence that goes beyond what is needed to defeat
criminal gangs.
It added, “The simultaneous challenges of combating
insurgency and banditry, rehabilitating IDPs, and rebuilding lives,
communities, and infrastructure must all be top priorities for the government.
We expected the President to acknowledge the gravity of the situation and
outline concrete plans for addressing these critical issues.”
The group opined that the focus should have been on finding
sustainable solutions to the crisis, prioritizing the needs of the affected
communities, and ensuring that necessary resources are allocated to support
them.
The Northern elders in the same vein pointed out that it is
vital that the government demonstrates a strong commitment to addressing the
humanitarian disaster and shows that it has the capability to lead the nation
through challenging times.
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