Fight against Banditry, illicit drugs and abuse on Women have started yielding results – Says Gov. Bago.
By : Priscilla Dennis, Minna.
Niger State Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago has disclosed that the fight against banditry, illicit drugs and violence abuse on women in the state is beginning to yield desired results, in spite of some isolated cases witnessed recently in parts of the state.
Bago stated this at the 2024 North Central Women National Sensitization Two Day Workshop in Minna, Niger state said the issues are a social challenge that his administration is working hard to tackle in the state.
The Governor, who spoke through his deputy, Comrade Yakubu Garba, also explained that his administration is committed to ensuring that women are carried along in all levels of governance.
According to him, “In Niger state, the administration is committed towards providing adequate security of lives and properties. We are therefore doing everything possible to curb the menace of banditry, drug abuse and other abuses on women. I want to assure you that the fight against banditry and other social vices has been recording tremendous successes despite the occurrence of isolated cases.”
He then called on men to support women in combating the menace of drug abuse while commending the House of Representatives Committee on Women Affairs and Social Development for organising the sensitisations workshop in the state.
Earlier, in her remarks, the wife of the Kwara state Governor, Prof. Olufoleke Abdulrazaq, who is also the chairperson of Governors’ Wives Forum, lamented the rising tides of drug and sexual abuse in the Nation and the urgent need to tackle the situation.
Also, wife of the Niger State Governor, Hajiya Fatima Mohammed Umar Bago who hosted the Workshop urged women and children to desist from illicit drug abuse due to its negative effects not only on the users but on their families as a whole.
Similarly, the chairman House Committee on Women and Social Development, Hon. Kafilat Adetola Ogbara in her opening address said in order to combat the situation in the country, a state of Emergency should be declared on drug abuse and other social vices among women and children in order to come up with solutions and interventions to the issue.
Ogbara explained that if adequately tackled by governments, it would inturn address the myraid of security challenges facing the nation noting that some of the perpetrators involved in such crimes were under the influence of drugs.
