The Northeast Governors Forum has ruled that the security challenges bedevilling the region can be resolved only through a multidimensional approach.
The Governor of Borno State, Babangana Zulum, while speaking at the 12th rotational meeting of the Forum in Taraba on Saturday, identified the key solutions as education, healthcare, beefed-up security and infrastructural development, among others.
While commending President Bola Tinubu’s effort at ending insurgency in the region, the governors also insisted that the root causes, such as youth restiveness, unemployment, vocational and technical education, poor road networks and inadequate poverty reduction programmes must be tackled.
They are also seeking the collaboration of the Federal Government in providing an enabling environment to both local and foreign investors and to promote the establishment of small and medium-scale enterprises.
“We must reiterate our call for non-kinetic solutions to the challenges. This involves addressing the root cause of the problem by tackling youth unemployment through enhanced technical and vocational education, improving our road networks, revitalising agriculture, improving poverty alleviation programmes, security, and healthcare, among others.”