The All Progressives Congress (APC) has revealed that President Bola Tinubu’s administration will harness advanced technology to tackle the escalating issue of banditry, particularly within the nation’s forests.
Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, the National Chairman of the party, made this announcement during a meeting with a delegation from the North Central APC Elders Forum, led by former Military Governor General Lawrence Onoja (retd), who praised Ganduje’s leadership.
Addressing the delegation, Ganduje said; “Pertaining to insecurity, the President has agreed to employ technology in the management of security in Nigeria, in particular our forests that have become cities for bandits.
“Mr President is fully conscious of that; he is ready in order to make the institutions strong, the army, Air Force, the Navy, the DSS, Civil Defence, even the NIA. He is rejigging the institutions to ensure that we conquer insecurity in the country”.
Ganduje also said the president would effectively manage Nigeria’s diversity, adding that the Tinubu administration would spread appointments across w wry part of the Federation.
He said; “The North Central geopolitical zone is a good example of unity and diversity, and coincidentally, Mr President is the one who is an expert in managing diversities if you look at the composition of his cabinet when he was the Governor of Lagos. So, the issue of tribalism is put aside, the issue of ethnicity, the issue of religion is also put aside as he is muslim and his wife is a pastor, so he is living by example, as far as managing diversity is concerned.
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“We assure you, the government has taken every step to see that all ethnic nationalities are brought in, in the management of this country.
“We have to thank him, for appointing the Secretary to the Government of the Federation from the North Central zone.
“As requested for inclusiveness in the appointment in agencies, i think the SGF is the focal person. We will rally round to ensure that we host different support groups, and that they get a big share of that distribution”.
Earlier, Gen. Onoja who said the zone is happy with the emergence of Ganduje as national chairman, also urged him to deepen and strengthen the internal democracy of the party by bringing his wisdom and wealth of experience to unify the party.
‘Do this by having in place a special peace and reconciliation committee made of trusted men and women at national and state levels with ideas/strategies to identify the challenges in our party to reconcile the differences at the various levels. For we will be stronger in governance only as we remain united as a ruling party”, he stated.
On the specific demands of the zone, Onoja requested for more appointments of the people into boards of agencies, as well as the establishment of a development commission for the zone.
He said; “Remember us in the zone with key appointments in Federal boards, Parastatals, Commissions and Agencies in line with the Federal character principle.
“The North Central zone has witnessed the most prolonged state of insecurity experience in the fourth republic. This has been mainly in the form of terrorist and banditry attacks, with adverse consequences on the social cohesion of the people, Food Security and Education among others. We request that you use your good offices to help/encourage us to develop new strategies that will address the security challenges we face, once and for all.
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“As you are already aware, the North Central zone is the home of solid mineral deposits in Nigeria and the food basket of the country. We request the government under the leadership of our party to come up with policies that will encourage our patronage of local miners instead of patronizing foreigners.
“We will need a Development Agency such as NDDC (in the South), North East Development Commission (in North East). Similarly, we will require a North Central Development Commission that will coordinate strategies for harnessing the rich agriculture, tourism, educational and human potentials of the zone in the interest of national development”.