A coalition of 16 Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) yesterday blamed the insecurity, especially armed banditry and kidnapping in Zamfara and other parts of North-West on corruption.
The coalition during a press conference on “Banditry and Corruption with emphasis on Zamfara” held in Lagos, said the insecurity in Zamfara and other states in the North-West, if not checked, could overwhelm the entire country.
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Executive Director, Centre for Public Accountability, Olufemi Lawson, who addressed the press conference, called on the new EFCC Chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa, to beam searchlight on activities of past governments in the region.
He said, “As we gather here today, we are all aware of the heightened threat of insecurity, occasioned by the activities of armed bandits particularly in the northwest of our country, the recent being Thursday’s abduction of about 317 school girls in Zamfara.
“We are sad that the issue of insecurity in Nigeria is becoming a threat to everyone and we must not fold our arms while some elected public officials elected to serve us continue to deprive us of the basic needs because of their irresponsibility.
“Our focus is on Zamfara because of the level of banditry in the state. Our findings, which were corroborated by Zamfara citizens, indicated that the issue of banditry arose because of lackluster performance of the successive administrations in the state…”
He stressed that corruption had become endemic in the country thereby retarding its growth, describing the situation as “saddening.”
“We have discovered that if we are to make progress, there’s a need to re-evaluate our leadership recruitment process with the view to setting an irreducible minimum standard,” Lawson added.
On his part, Shina Loremikan of the Campaign Against Impunity said insecurity in Zamfara is not an isolated case, saying no part of the country is safe.
“This is why we are pleading that everybody should show concern to happenings in Zamfara State.”
According to him, corruption is not limited to only politically exposed individuals. And this is the time for everybody to show concern.
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