By GRACE AUDU, Abuja –
A non-governmental organization, Ior Gboko Foundation, has called for the creation of a North Central Development Commission (NCDC), to address the damage and devastation suffered by the region due to the activities of armed bandits and terrorist groups in the last one decade.
President of the Foundation, Dr. Jimmy Ajim, who made the call while speaking to NATIONAL ACCORD in Abuja on Wednesday, also condemned the incessant and wanton killings by armed bandits in the region, particularly the recent Christmas Day attacks on three Logal Government Areas across Plateau state during which about 200 innocent lives were lost.
While commiserating with the families of the victims of the Plateau killings, Dr. Ajim implored the Plateau State and Federal Governments to step up efforts aimed at curtailing the menace of bandits and terrorists so as to return peace in Plateau State and the entire country.
He urged the authorities to expand their security apparatuses to include inter-State collaboration by Governors, Local Government Chairmen, Cooperative Farmers’ Societies, Youth, and Vigilante Groups, to work symbiotically with the military to stamp out the banditry incubus.
According to the President of Ior Gboko Foundation, it had become very necessary for the National Assembly enact a law that would establish a commission similar to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in the South-South and the North East development Commission in the North-East geo-political zones of the country.
He contended that the NCDC, when established, would help restore the colossal and collateral damage caused by the activities of armed bandits in Plateau, Benue, Niger and Nasarawa states, as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
According to Dr. Ajim, the massive destruction of houses, school, churches and farmlands and the plight of thousands of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in various camps across the country required a special intervention of a body like the proposed NCDC.
The Ior Gboko Foundation is a prominent NGO established about five years ago to promote the socio-cultural interests and needs of people born or resident in Gboko, the traditional headquarters of the Tiv Nation.
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