The recent gruesome murder of 24 residents in two communities in Maradun local government area of Zamfara State, is no doubt a bad way of welcoming the new governor, Lawal Dauda Dare.
The state has been a killing field for more than a decade with thousands of residents meeting their untimely deaths, villages sacked and farming activities disrupted thereby further worsening the state's economic condition. This sad and utterly embarrassing development in the North west state has been a recurring decimal.
These killings have crippled economic activities and, most importantly, farming in most rural communities. It reached a crescendo during the regime of Governor Abdulazeez Yari who, at some point, publicly renounced his constitutionally recognized chief security officer role.
For a substantial part of Yari's eight-year rule, residents of Zamfara state contended with wanton killing by bandits and other criminal elements who indulged in this barbaric act simply for the fun of it.
The immediate past governor, Muhammad Bello Matawalle, in his first few months, demonstrated leadership consequent upon which the killings subsided. Sadly, it did not last long especially as the Governor Matawalle relapsed and watched helplessly as the situation went from bad to worse.
Killings: Zamfara, Benue Ask Residents To Take Up Arms Against Bandits
Just as the state is adjusting to the new governor who was elected in the last election, the marauders struck again at Janbako and Sikida communities where it was reported that three people were killed in Sikida while 21 others, mostly vigilante members, were sent to their early graves in Janbako.
The latest killing is no doubt a baptism of fire for Governor Dare who must ensure an end to a Zamfara State where bandits pretended to be in charge and dealing mercilessly with the residents.
Available reports suggest that these killers reside in the forests in parts of the state even as some of them are very known to residents. In our opinion, the regrettable aspect of this situation is that some of the villagers unfortunately either under duress or as a pecuniary tendency, have continued to serve as informants to these criminals.
While the Governor is thinking of strategies to deploy to combat this menace, we are persuaded to recommend that he starts by making the forests uninhabitable for criminal elements who are presently using those places as their safe haven. It is surprising, in our view, that this has not been done long before now to deny them the oxygen they need to survive.
We make no pretense to the fact that Dare inherited a state stricken by security issues and other governance challenges in the face of alarming poverty levels. Indeed, leaders are known during moments of adversity to think outside the box for solutions to daunting problems.
It is in this regard, therefore, that we urge the new governor to demonstrate a willingness to tackle these challenges frontally.
Fundamentally, Governor Dare must demonstrate the political will to stem the tide of insecurity by doing all it takes to combat criminal activities in the state. To effectively do this, he must have the courage to deal ruthlessly with all those found culpable as there are reported cases of highly placed persons including traditional rulers aiding and abetting these acts of criminality.
There is a clear nexus between the seemingly intractable incidence of criminality in the state with the intolerably high level of poverty. Government must accord priority attention to these issues that are seemingly assuming endemic proportions.
In our considered opinion, there is no reason why Zamfara should continue to remain at the bottom of the key development index when compared with other states of the federation. For instance, the state has one of the worst health indices with intolerably high maternal and infant mortality. An NBS' Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey of 2021 showed that Zamfara had an alarming child mortality rate of 136 per 1,000 live births even though the national average is 62 deaths.
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Sadly too, the state leads from behind in both the West African Examination Council (WAEC) and the National Examination Council (NECO), and has been the hotbed of cattle rustling, kidnapping for ransom and other criminal activities, with bandits literally holding sway.
The task ahead of Governor Dare, is without doubt, enormous and he must roll up his sleeves and demonstrate that he has what it takes to turn things around. Agriculture is the mainstay of Zamfara economy and so, all efforts aimed at mobilizing the abundant human and material resources in the state must be made to reactivate farming as doing otherwise will force the state's economy towards a downward slide.
