My constituency under-policed, Plateau lawmaker claims

‘Katsina lost 30% of food production to banditry’
Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Science and Technology, Mrs. Beni Lar, claims there are only 32 policemen in her constituency comprising Langtang North and Langtang South councils of Plateau State.

Speaking to reporters in Abuja at the weekend, Lar argued that there was no way 32 policemen could effectively protect the lives and properties of her constituents.

She underscored the importance of state police, which would pave the way for effective policing of the nooks and crannies of the country.

Applauding President Muhammadu Buhari for assenting to the Police Reform Bill 2020 as part of ongoing effort to achieve the goal, she added: “One of the major achievements of this government is signing the bill for state policing into law.

“Plateau is one of the states in need of state policing because we realise that you cannot expect the federal police to be present in 774 councils and work effectively. That is asking for too much.”

According to her, one of the councils in her constituency has about 12 policemen, while the other has 20.

Buhari had in a memo dated September 16, 2020, communicated his assent to the bill to the National Assembly.

STILL lamenting insecurity, Katsina State Government says it lost 30 per cent of its annual food production to activities of bandits and other criminals in the state.

Speaking with newsmen at the weekend, Special Adviser to Governor on Agriculture, Dr. Abba Abdullah, said the security problem forced farmers to abandon 400 farmlands.

According to him, the abandoned farms translate to 58,000 hectares of arable land.

He also said that banditry adversely affected farming across the state, much more than the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

“We were able to calculate about 500 farms abandoned due to banditry, and the problem affected about 30 per cent of our annual production of crops.

“COVID-19 didn’t affect farming like banditry did. The pandemic affected distribution of farm produce more than it did actual farming,” he explained, adding that the state government had emplaced measures to arrest the situation.