Vice President Kashim Shettima has admitted that bad governance is the cause of the prevalence of banditry, kidnapping, and other forms of violent crimes in Nigeria, especially in the northwest region.

Shettima made this submission on Wednesday, August 30, when he hosted the Coalition of Northern States’ Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (CONSCCIMA) at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

In the vice president’s view, re-engineering and re-strategising” affairs in the north is necessary to catapult the region into “accelerated” development.

He expressed belief in the proposal for stakeholders in the north to go back to the drawing board, re-assess the state of affairs in the region, and develop robust platforms for re-engineering our society.

His words:

“It is imperative for the north to embark on the re-strategising and re-engineering of the region to reposition it for accelerated development.

“Most of the issues highlighted by the president of CONSCCIMA are very poignant as these are issues that touch the lives and wellbeing of our people.

“There can never be development without peace, and there can never be peace without development.

“Especially in the north-west through the Pulaku initiative. The Pulaku initiative is a robust solution towards addressing the challenges in the northwest.

“It is a solution aimed at addressing the challenges of banditry, kidnapping and the situation in the northwest, which cannot be divorced from the issue of governance.

“Poor governance has a direct bearing on what we are harvesting in the north-west.”