The Northern Elders Forum (NEF), has expressed disappointment with President Bola Tinubu’s national address as it failed to acknowledge the severe security situation in the North-West and other parts of the North.
In a statement released on Monday by its Director of Publicity and Advocacy, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, the NEF lamented the escalating issues of banditry, kidnapping, rape and other criminal activities in the region that have caused widespread fear and insecurity.
It said there was a very huge challenge in policing northern communities, where criminal elements continue to cause harm, resulting in abandoned farmlands, closed schools and destroyed livelihoods.
The NEF, therefore, said it was disappointed that the President did not address these pressing issues or offer reassurance to affected communities.
The elders forum said it chose not to comment on the ongoing protests in the country because of its commitment to peace and national stability, but said that the failure of the President to acknowledge North-West’s struggles was too disturbing to ignore.
The forum said people in the zone anticipated words of encouragement and an assurance of concrete steps being taken to alleviate the security challenges they face daily.
“The NEF had high hopes for the President’s speech, expecting that he would address the dire humanitarian disaster that criminal activities have brought upon our nation,” it added.
According to the NEF, the scale of the crisis is immense, with millions of the citizens displaced, and hundreds of thousands of orphans facing hunger and malnourishment.
It added that the realities of the challenges are alarming and beyond what was known.
The NEF says it is essential that the magnitude of the challenge is not underestimated, and believes that dealing with the humanitarian disaster in the North will require political will and administrative competence beyond what is needed to defeat criminal gangs.
It added, “The simultaneous challenges of combating insurgency and banditry, rehabilitating IDPs, and rebuilding lives, communities, and infrastructure must all be top priorities for the government. We expected the President to acknowledge the gravity of the situation and outline concrete plans for addressing these critical issues.”
The group opined that the focus should have been on finding sustainable solutions to the crisis, prioritizing the needs of the affected communities, and ensuring that necessary resources are allocated to support them.
The Northern elders said the government must demonstrate a strong commitment to addressing the humanitarian disaster and show that it has the capability to lead the nation through challenging times.
