Days after Garam attack, bandits abduct three in Niger

Armed-men have abducted three persons in Niger state. This recent spate of attack is coming barely a week after bandits invaded Garam village, a Niger community bordering Abuja killing one person.

Speaking with journalists, a resident, Lucky Barnabas said the incident happened around 12:13:am on Tuesday.

He explained that the bandits, who came in their numbers wielding AK-47 rifles, shot into different directions to create panic among residents of the community.

He said the bandits whisked away a man, his wife and a little child staying with them, adding that vigilantes were helpless due to heavy gunshots by the bandits.

“My brother, we could not sleep last night as these bandits came back again after a week when they came and killed one person and abducted four people. In fact, this one was like a war as gunshots were all over the place,” he said.

No immediate response from the Police command in Niger State on the incident but residents said some military operatives arrived in the area shortly after the incident.

Arewa Consultative Forum laments poor development of education, agricultural sector in North

The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has expressed with dismay the state of the educational and agricultural sector in the Northern region of Nigeria.

The forum’s Spokesperson, Professor Tukur Mohammed-Baba, in an interview with Trust TV highlighted the critical gap between government initiatives and tangible improvements on the ground.

Professor Tukur said although some states had made strides in agriculture, progress in education existed largely in the media.

He said, “A lot of areas in the north had suffered decline in social conditions, the backbone of the economy in the north has remained agriculture.”

“Agriculture becomes very challenging activity. Activities of bandits, climate change and so on; these have effects on access to education, access to health, infrastructure.”

“There were many areas that much more could have been done but there were not. A lot of agricultural support by the previous government actually did not get to those who it was meant for.”

“There are few states where a lot has been done in agriculture but there are many more where the improvement in agriculture, improvement in education are all on TVs, on cameras and so on but in reality not much has been done.”

“Go round the North, go round all the local government areas, go round the villages. You find schools with dilapidated rooms despite the amount of money by both the federal and state governments in basic education where in fact you will think that the federal government has no business in basic education.”

“You find most of the students don’t have facilities, you hardly see new schools despite population growing.” He said.