From Agaju Madugba, Katsina

 

Katsina State governor, Alhaji Aminu Bello Masari, has urged the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency over the nation›s security.

Katsina is the North West epicentre, where banditry and other criminal activities reign supreme, leaving cross-sections of citizens traumatised.

Speaking yesterday in Katsina at the opening of a meeting of the Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures from the 36 states in the country, Masari said that the security agencies were doing their best in efforts to tackle insecurity nationwide but noted that the Federal Government ought to adopt more measures towards resolving the problem.

His words: “The Federal Government should declare a state of emergency on the nation’s security situation. The security agencies are doing their best to curtail the state of insecurity in different parts of the country but more needs to be done to check activities of bandits and other criminal elements across the country.

“Our major problem in Katsina State is the security challenges facing us in parts of the state. With support from the Katsina State House of Assembly, some legal framework has been put in place while existing ones were restructured in order to address the security challenges.”

The governor identified the 1975 Local Government Reforms as a fundamental factor engendering current security issues in the nation and also urged participants at the conference to adopt certain measures being implemented by Katsina State to check the state of insecurity.