Talks with bandits: Let each state decides – Badaru

Governor Muhammad Badaru Abubakar of Jigawa State has said that each state in the North West has its peculiar security challenge that needs to be tackled.

Governor Badaru, who said this on Tuesday while responding to questions from journalists at Katsina Government House, was obviously reacting to the issue raised by Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State concerning the security of the region.

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He said: “The issue of insecurity is just like a cap that does not fit all heads, each head has the size that fits it. So, each governor is better informed on the peculiar challenges of his state and he knows how best to fix it.

“The governor who thinks going into dialogue or peace talk with criminals in his state is the best option has his reasons and likewise the one who feels that peace talk is not the best solution, so let every one of them tackle his peculiar problem.

“As you know, in some places it is tribal or religious issues, other places it is farmer/herder clash, others have armed banditry or armed robbery, other places are reprisal attacks and so on. So, the problems are not uniform but they all vary,”

On the Kano-Katsina-Maradi rail line project, the governor predicted promising days ahead for the citizens of Nigeria and the Niger Republic.

The governor said with cheaper transportation, prices of commodities would go down, thereby supporting the economic development of the country and improved standards of living.