Gov. Nasir El-rufai on Wednesday inaugurated an early warning and response strategy committee to stem the tide of attacks in the southern parts of Kaduna state.
El-rufai inaugurated the committee in Kafanchan at a Town Hall meeting on public participation and stakeholders’ engagement for a sustainable working relationship.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that the town hall meeting was convened by the Kafanchan Municipal Authority.
The governor was represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Balarabe Abbas.
He said the constitution of the committee was part of the recommendations by stakeholders from the zone following a series of engagements on security.
“To restore our dignity and values, stakeholders have held a series of engagements with top government officials.
“Part of the recommendations agreed going forward is the constitution of this committee.
“These resolution going forward are key to fulfilling our mandate as a state government,” he added
He said that the committee would be responsible for forestalling any security threatening occurrence by warning the public early and reporting to security agents.
According to him, development cannot thrive in an atmosphere of violence, hence the need for the government to take security and preservation of lives seriously.
“Development cannot thrive in an atmosphere of violence.
“As a government, we take security and preservation of lives and property of our people very paramount and dear to our heart.
“This is our primary responsibility and we must work together as a people to sustain it,” he stated
Earlier in a welcome address, the Commissioner of the Kafanchan Municipal Authority, Mrs Phoebe Yayi, charged the committee to carry out the assignment with diligence to ensure enduring peace and peaceful co-existence is restored in the area.
Yayi creating an enabling environment for peace was necessary to usher in full scale infrastructural development, for which the Municipal Authority was created.
According to her, the Municipal Authority was not created to usurp the powers of the Local Government Areas, but to complement it in the area of infrastructural development among others.
She emphasized the need for closer collaboration and public participation to turn Kafanchan into an urban, green and smart city.
“Under the Kafanchan Municipal Authority, there are a lot we can take advantage of that can turn the area into a smart city.
“We are a proud agrarian people with a rich territorial enclave backed by fertile land for livestock, ginger, massive clay deposit and much more,” she added
Some of the stakeholders who spoke at the Town Hall meeting made submissions on issues bordering on the collective well being of the people.
NAN reports that the membership of the 195-man committee cuts across the Chiefdoms and Jamaá Emirate in the zone.
NAN