The Arewa Consultative Forum has revealed the reasons for banditry, kidnapping and the high level of insecurity in the Northern part of Nigeria. According to the Forum, the negligence of youths by the northern governors is a time bomb waiting to explode.
The Chairman, Board of Trustees, Arewa Forum, Shehu Malami, said the insecurity caused by the abandonment of the youths culminated in the banditry, kidnapping, and clashes between herders and farmers.
He added that the failure of governors in the north to address the negative socio-economic situation of youths had pushed most of them into criminality and set the North backward by many years.
Malami explained that the situation might explode if the Northern governors fail to take urgent steps to address the plights of the youths.
Meanwhile, the Forum insisted on the need to dialogue with Afenifere, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the pan-Niger Delta Forum and other regional groups to enthrone peace in the north and Nigeria at large.
The Forum called on the northern governors to industrialise the region and establish financial institutions to facilitate employment and development, adding that no sensible being will be happy to rely on any form of palliative.