Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago has said his administration will involve Fulani youths as part of non-conventional security personnel to protect the forests for useful ventures.

The state Governor stated this shortly after a closed door meeting with the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen. Lucky Irabor at the Defence Headquarters, in continuation of his visit to Service Chiefs for collaboration with the security apparatus to combat banditry and other forms of criminality in the state.

He said government will take charge of clearing the forests for useful ventures before engaging the Fulani people to protect it.

“Yes, definitely, we will first take over the forests, clear them and make them useful then the Fulani will now be given the responsibility to protect themselves and their assets because they are the occupants of the forest and jungles”.

According to him “we are committed to collaborating with all the security agencies, conventional and non-conventional in making sure that people live peacefully”.

Governor Umaru Bago explained that he had a fruitful discussion with the CDS on strategies to be evolved to address insecurity in the state.

He said he has a long standing relationship with the CDS, hence he will leverage on that for the benefit of the state.

“We’ve discussed with the CDS in order to establish strong architecture of collaboration among the Armed Forces and other security agencies to curb the menace of insecurity. It was very fruitful and the CDS has been a very good friend in the last ten years and I know that he can do better”, he said.

Bologi Ibrahim

Chief Press Secretary

to the Governor of Niger State

06/06/2023.