The Governor of Niger State, Mr. Abdullahi Bago, has rolled out plans by his government to end insecurity in the state.
The Governor, who spoke at a news conference in Abuja, said that the state government plans to take over all lands currently housing bandits across the state and put them into economic use.
He said the government has discovered that most of the land currently being occupied by the bandits are not occupied and therefore plans to take over such land for vast agricultural purpose.
The governor also announced that the state government has banned mining activities in the state while making arrangements to create ranches for cattle.
Governor Bago said the state was procuring heavy-duty equipment in readiness for the next planting season and will cultivate about 250,000 hectares of farmland in 2024.
He also said that it is presently clearing about 300,000 hectares of land and will, in the next six months be planting about 10 million trees across the state.
He also said that the state government has entered into an agreement with some state governments in the southwestern part of the country on the stoppage of open grazing.
“We have agreed that cattle will no longer be transported to the South. They will stop at Mokwa where we are setting up a processing plant which will process them before they are transported to the south,” the governor said.
He said further that the state government has banned mining in the state and will no longer allow those involved to operate in the state even when they come with a license from the Federal Government.
He noted that a relationship exists between mining and cattle rears as the miners often use the cattle to carry their products away from mining sites.
The Governor pointed out that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has directed mass food production in the country, and that the state wants to take the lead in this regard.
The governor who was a member of the House of Representatives before being elected as the governor also received the Executives and members of the House of Representatives Press Corps.
The Chairman of the Corps, Ms Grace Ike presented a congratulatory card to the governor who promised to continue to work with the Corps in the area of capacity building.
Dominica Nwabufo
