Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has vowed that his administration will resist attempt by bandits to disrupt the education of children in the state.
The governor said he would do everything within his powers to ensure he safeguard the future of children in the state from being ruined by criminals terrorising the Northwest region of the country.
El-Rufai stated this when the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshall Isiaka Amoo, paid him a courtesy call at Sir Kashim Ibrahim Government House, Kaduna yesterday.
The governor praised the Armed Forces and other security agents for all that they had done and still doing to keep Nigeria safe.
“We will keep our schools open. We are confident that with the guidance that we have been getting from the Garrison Commander, Base Commander, the Air Officer Commanding, General Officer Commanding and the ability of the security agencies to respond in a timely manner, our schools will remain open,” El-Rufai said.
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The governor said that he and senior government officials and heads of security agencies, civil society organisations, clerics and clergymen as well as other stakeholders met two days to deliberate on the dangers facing school children.
“So far, all the attempts by bandits to carry out abductions have not been fully successful. This is largely due to the preparatory work done by the security agencies in advance. We knew we would be targeted because of our stance. But the security agencies were ready for them.
“We appreciate the efforts and the timely response of the Armed Forces and we will continue to urge you to sustain the tempo,” he pointed out.
El-Rufai pointed out that although the country was not where it should be in terms of security, “our security agencies are doing their best within the limits of the resources available to them.”
“This is why along with other governors, we have made strident calls for more resources to be made available to the armed forces to acquire more advanced technology and armament to be able to deal with this new wave of asymmetry warfare,” he added.
Earlier, the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshall Isiaka Amoo, said the Chief of Defence Staff and the Service Chiefs were determined to wipe out the bandits so that farmers could go back to the farm at the end of the dry season.
