Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State has said that the military will soon establish three new forward operating Bases in Southern Kaduna, Giwa, and Birnin-Gwari Local Government Areas as part of efforts to combat the menace of banditry, kidnapping, and other related security threats bedevilling the state.
The governor who gave the hint during a meeting with members of the Kaduna Elders Forum at the Sir Kashim Ibrahim House Kaduna on Monday, noted that the presence of more boots on the ground in the frontline locations will enhance security.
“In the last few months since our last meeting, we have stepped up our effort to secure Kaduna,” the governor said.
“And the only way we believe we can do that is by collaborating with the relevant security agencies. Because of our government’s efforts, we have been receiving a lot of support from security agencies.
“Particularly, I want to use this opportunity to thank our brother, the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, who has been supporting us, and the efforts of other service chiefs. Kaduna State has been benefiting from some level of intervention by the military.
“Only a few weeks ago, we concluded our arrangement with the military to set up Forward Operating Bases in the Southern and another in the Giwa and Birnin-Gwari axis. All the arrangements have been concluded, and by the grace of God in the next few weeks, we will certainly see those Operating Bases in Operation.
“As I always say, we need more boots on the ground, we need the support of the military generally. Last week also, the Chief of the Air Staff, agreed to set up one of the operating Bases in Millennium City in Chikun local government area. And I believe that will also go a long way to enhance security.
“For us, security is important, because we have to also encourage our farmers to farm. And that’s the reason why we believe without security, we cannot be able to achieve that. We distributed about 150 patrol vehicles to all the security agencies that are working in Kaduna. From the Army, Airforce, DSS, Police, Civil Defence, Customs, Immigration, all of them benefitted. The office of the NSA also benefitted.”
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Governor Sani also disclosed that his administration has supported over 60,000 smallholder farmers with farm implements, to enable them to cultivate massively in this year’s farming season.
“On our part, we are also deepening consultations and engagements with traditional rulers, religious leaders as well as non-governmental organisations in trying to also deepen intelligence gathering and sharing. Because we believe that will also go a long way in assisting security agencies in doing their work,” he said.
“We have embarked on supporting our smallholder farmers, we believe that is the only way we can address the problem of poverty, and unemployment and increase the level of productivity in our state. I am happy to announce to you that in the last three weeks, I personally went around all three senatorial zones, and we supported over 60,000 smallholder farmers with farm implements and fertilisers. We believe our smallholder farmers are key in our economic drive.”
