A former Governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa, on Monday lamented the activities of bandits in the north.
He revealed how bandits made him abandon his 10,000 hectares of land in Kaduna State.
Speaking to newsmen on the backdrop of the high cost of foodstuff in the country, Bafarawa noted that people now seek permission from bandits before going to the farm.
He said bandits were the ones who decided which farm to cultivate or not in his community
“I used to have farmland, which is over 10,000 hectares in Birni Gwari of Kaduna State. I have been cultivating that land since 1979, but I cannot reach there now because of the bandits.
“The maize I produced that time is in commercial quantity that, I used part of it for my flour mill which is also out of production. The issue of insecurity is behind the high cost of food items because many farmers have been displaced,” the former governor told newsmen.
Activities of bandits in the Northeast and Northwest have been fingered as one of the factors responsible for the current food crisis in the country.
According to March figures released by the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics, food inflation stood at 31.70%, a situation experts have tagged as an emergency.
Bafarawa, however, claimed that he had warned the Federal Government of impending food insecurity in the country.
“There was a time I warned the federal government about the impending food insecurity in the country but my advice was ignored,” he said
He, meanwhile, called for genuine collaborative efforts between the federal government, state, and local government to tackle insecurity, particularly in the north.
“The state governments cannot do it alone without the support of the Federal Government,” he concluded.
