Senator Kabir Marafa has urged the President Muhammadu Buhari to implement the eighth Senate resolution on the bandits’ killings in Zamfara State to curtail the spillover to neighbouring Katsina and Sokoto.
Marafa, who represented Zamfara Central in the eighth Senate, urged the Federal Government to extend a “small fraction” of what was being done in the North-East to Zamfara State.
“The resolution was passed towards the end of the 8th National Assembly, where we called on the Federal Government to extend a small fraction of what has been done in North-East in Zamfara, by constituting a Presidential Initiative Committee on Zamfara State, give the Committee seed money of N10 billion and the same amount to be given every year for 10 years to assist the situation on the ground,” he said.
The former lawmaker stated this while addressing newsmen shortly after he gave out 13 female orphans and his daughter for marriage in Kaduna on Saturday.
The 13 female orphans, according to the former lawmaker, lost their parents to bandits attacks in Zamfara State.
According to him, between 2011 and 2019, there are over 40,000 orphans whose parents were killed by bandits in Zamfara.
“So, I am calling on Mr President as the father of the nation to look at that Senate resolution of 2019 and implement it because that is the only way we can curtail the spillover we are now seeing in Katsina, Sokoto and other places.
“When people are hungry and somebody gives them a N100,000 and AK47 rifle, they will follow the person, but if these orphans are properly catered for and trusted persons are appointed to manage the resources, we can tame the monster called banditry to the barest minimum,” he said.