The Chairman, Board of Trustees, Northern Coalition Group, CNG, Nastura Ashir Shariff has on Thursday opened up on why insecurity is lingering in the Northern region of the country.
Shariff noted that the lack of synergy between the Army and Air Force in the onslaught against insecurity in Northern Nigeria is catastrophic, recalling that there was a time when disagreement on operation between the two military bodies resulted to killing over 300 in Zamfara State.
The Chairman of the Arewa group stated this at a Stakeholders Engagement on Security in Northern Nigeria, with a theme, “Changing The Narratives of Insecurity in Northern Nigeria”, between the CNG, Artists, Social Media Influencers and Bloggers in promoting peace and security in the region, held in Kano.
Sharrif hinted that their understanding with situation with regards to banditry and insurgency in the north shows that there is lack of definite, coherent and effective strategy to tackle the problems.
According to him, “The reason why insecurity still lingers in the north is due to lack of synergy between Air Force and Army. This is what caused the death of about 300 people in Zamfara state sometimes ago.
“This happened when the ground soldiers wanted to attack some bandits’ enclave, they informed the Air Force for a collaborative mission but because of disagreement with the Air Force, already this number of innocent lives were lost,” Shariff stated.
He continued when he said the essence of the meeting is to engage the artists and social media influencers as they could play a significant role in the fight against insecurity, especially in the north.
The Chairman noted that CNG felt that the entertainers have the ability to pass message across to the society, adding that “even the bandits can see your messages as they are in WhatsApp, TikTok, Facebook and other social media platforms.
“And that is why after we completed our research on how to tackle the lingering insecurity in our region, we identified you as one of the critical stakeholders that would help significantly in the fight against the insecurity,” he said.
Shariff added that because of the insecurity, they also met with all retired security personnel and presented their blueprint to them which they praised and gave nod for its implementation.
Earlier, the Chairman of the occasion, retired Assistant Director General of DSS, Alhaji Ibrahim Ahmad Katsina, expressed worry that as it is, North is facing a lot of problems like drug addiction, youth restiveness, banditry, kidnapping and Boko Haram.
He tasked the entertainers to change the negative narratives against the Northern region through their contents by portraying the region as peaceful and developed.
“This could work a great deal in attracting investors to come for our economic development. The narratives about North on social media is always negative. That is why you are engaged in order to change the narrative,” he said.
Meanwhile, the entertainers, in their separate remarks, agreed to give maximum support toward achieving the set goals.