Gov. Masari Bans NGOs From IDP Camps In Katsina State, Gives Reason

The Governor of Katsina State, Aminu Bello Masari has banned non-government organizations (NGOs) from visiting any of the internally-displaced persons (IDPs) camps in the state.

According to the governor who spoke when he visited the army special super camp IV in Faskari on Monday, the continued stay of the displaced persons in the camps makes them vulnerable to attacks.

He explained that the government is able to take care of the displaced persons, hence the decision to stop NGOs from visiting them.

“We will not allow these NGOs under whatever guise into our IDPs camps,” Masari said.

“We know that the fight against bandits and banditry is not over, but we can handle our displaced persons adequately because we have sufficient food, clothing, shelter, and security for them while we strengthen efforts in restoring security for them to return to their respective homes.

“We want the IDPs to return to their homes as soon as possible because leaving them at the camp is what is giving opening for those wanting to prolong banditry.”

Masari added that the government is exploring other ways to curb issues of insecurity in the state that is believed to be capable of identifying any group or persons that allow a security breach.

“As a government, there are certain actions, which we need to take; actions that are non-kinetic, actions that are administrative, actions that will make us look back at laws governing our local communities,” he said.

“My own thinking is that the local government reforms of 1976, which has taken all authorities from local institutions and vesting it on nobody.

“As a government, we are going through the archives to see how we can recreate village security council and every Ward in Katsina state will have similar committee to recreate village security council.

“This village security council also can stray down to remote and smaller areas so that we can have those that can be held responsible.

“We believe also that future dialogue should be conducted in each and every village by these community council.

“I think it will help greatly because the military is working very hard to restore normalcy but after that, we need to maintain and sustain peace in the villages and communities.”

It will be recalled the governor recently declared that the rains which have made the terrains soft are making it difficult for the military to move in some heavy equipment to fight Boko Haram and other forms of insurgency in the area.