Government constitutes committee over Southern Kaduna conflicts

The Kaduna State Government has constituted a joint committee to look into the immediate and remote causes of the recurrent violent conflicts among communities in Jema’a, Kaura and Zangon Kataf local government areas of the state.

The Deputy Governor of the state, Hadiza Balarabe, who constituted the committee, gave it one week to summit its report.

The committee will be chaired by the Administrator of Kafanchan Municipal Authority, Phoebe Sukai Yayi, with the chairpersons of Jema’a, Kaura and Zangon Kataf as members.

Other members of the committee are representatives of Jama’a tul Nasir Islam (JNI), Christian Association of Nigeria(CAN) and the affected communities.

The setting up of the committee, which was done on Thursday, followed a peace dialogue with stakeholders from Jema’a, Kaura and Zangon Kataf local government areas towards finding a lasting solution to the incessant violent conflicts in the areas.

The dialogue, which was held at Kafanchan, was attended by elected government officials, traditional rulers, community leaders from affected communities, leaders of the two religious bodies, CAN and JNI as well as heads of security agencies, comprising the Nigerian Army, Nigerian Police Force and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps.

While constituting the committee, the Deputy Governor mandated members to look into the immediate and remote causes of the conflicts, recommend measures to be taken by both government and various ethnic groups, leading to a peaceful and harmonious coexistence among them.

Mrs Balarabe also directed the three local government chairpersons to resume the weekly meeting of the local government security committees as instituted by the state government, which will serve as a forum to discuss security issues and proactively tackle those problems before they escalate.

The deputy governor appreciated the sacrifice of the security agencies who she said are working round the clock to ensure safety and protection of lives and property, and tackling criminality in Southern Kaduna.

She also condoled with them over the killing of some of their personnel during the attacks and prayed for the repose of the souls of the officers who paid the supreme price in the course of duty.

The Deputy Governor disclosed that the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) has been directed to provide relief materials to victims of the attacks.

She added that government will further provide relief allowance to those affected from the Riot Damages Fund after documentation by the relevant government agencies.

Earlier, the Commissioner of Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, stated that the position of the state government is that both farmers and herders should always recourse to the law.

According to him, “as we always stated, when farmers have issues with herders, the position of the government is that they should report to the security agencies, and not to resort taking the law into their hands. Similarly, when herders have issues with anybody while grazing, they should never take revenge but report to the security agencies.’’