From Paul Orude, Bauchl
Bauchi State Governor Senator Bala Mohammed has urged the People’s be Republic of China to use Bauchi as a pilot state where technology is deployed to fight insurgency and bandits in Nigeria to accelerate tourism
Governor Mohammed made the suggestion on Thursday when he hosted the Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria HE Cui Juanchun on the side of the Bauchi Investment Opportunities Summit held at the Banquet Hall of the Government House Bauchi.
“Even though Bauchi is adjudged to be the most secured state in the north we don’t want to take this for granted,” he told the Chinese Ambassador while making presentation to highlight the huge investments opportunities in Bauchi State.
The governor explained that although his administration has done quite a lot to sustain the peace, insecurity remains the biggest threat to direct foreign investments especially in the area of tourism.
“With all these investments discussions and PPP , we want you to look at security. We want you to help us because as you have conquered all the forces of your society, we want you to help us.
“We have pockets of incidents here and there , people being affected. We don’t want a situation where people can’t go to farm.
We are mainly agrarian, we are mainly workers and we have high number of middle class. Poverty has been worrying us and by the time we can’t go to farm to do this small substistence farming we don’t know what will happen.
“Make Bauchi the pilot scheme where you will use technology and knowledge, where you will use communities and government to keep us secured and fortify our borders and make us a safe haven even in this season of terrorism, bloodshed and deaths that Nigeria has become. We want Bauchi to stand out as a place to be visited and respected.
“Something has to start. Bandits and insecurity cannot overcome us especially when we have the People’s Republic of China behind us who have conquered their insecurity problems.
“In our own limitations and inadequacies we are doing our but the whole thing is overwhelming us. We want you to come and help us.
In his response, the Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria admitted that insecurity was not a problem peculiar to Nigeria.
Mr Juanchun said the biggest concern of his country toward Nigeria is the issue of security
“China has its interests here in Nigeria and at the same time we are making contributions to the development of this country. Nigeria and China have common interests,” he stated.
He said the report that Bauchi is a peaceful state was a good development and urged all the citizens to join hands together and do everything within their power to protect themselves and their communities.
“They need technology. We have difficulties but we cannot give up, we cannot surrender. We have technology to fight but we also have the physical defence,” he said.
The Ambassador assured that technology can be useful to create early warning to address insurgency and banditry but decline to give details, saying “this is not the proper time” but we can use technology to try and protect the people.
On the issue of insecurity plaguing Nigeria, Mr Juanchun said what the people need are trust and confidence.