To Achieve Sustainable Peace in Northeast, we must Reduce Large Landmass – Pantami
Lawan Bukar Maigana
The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, has expressed concern over the intractable security challenges in the country, saying the availability of abundant landmass in the North-east is contributing significantly to the problem.
This minister made the pronouncement at a consultative meeting organized by the North-East Development Commission (NEDC) in Abuja.
He said the North-east has the largest states in the country, that is why the states have been the hideouts for criminal elements who operate and go scot-free because of the size of the lands.
“I want to use this opportunity to advise the forum, I looked into the questionnaire and I have to comment on one of the issues left out which is one of the challenges of the north-east, that is the land size of the north-east,” he said.
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“Any plan we want to work on should come with a very comprehensive and extensive approach on how to make use of our landmass. Today if you look at it, you will discover that among the six largest states in Nigeria, four of them are from the northeast; Niger, Borno, Taraba, Kaduna, Bauchi, and Yobe. These are the six largest states in Nigeria.
When it comes to landmass and if you look at it, you will discover that the smallest among the six which is Yobe with around 45,000 kmsq is more than the land size of 23 different countries in Europe, and Borno which is more than 70,000 kilometers is more than 30,000 in Europe. And you will discover that usually the peace in the north is somehow directly related to the size of the land.”
Pantami described Kano and Gombe as the most peaceful states in the whole of the North and commended leaders of the two states for their tremendous efforts in building and sustaining peaceful co-existence.
He further said that the smallest state in the northeast, Yobe, is bigger than Belgium and Switzerland as countries, and therefore, any developmental plan the government wants to work on in those areas must emphasize how to reduce the size of the lands particularly unoccupied areas because it will go a long way in realizing the plans, he said.
He lastly stated that states with small landmass face low crimes cases than the ones with bigger landmass.
