The 19 northern governors and traditional rulers yesterday urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to suspend mining for six months in the region as part of measures in tackling banditry and halting criminal networks exploiting the sector.
The leaders, who resolved to set up N1 billion monthly Security Trust Fund, also reaffirmed their support for state police.
The Northern States Governors’ Forum (NSGF) and the Northern Traditional Rulers’ Council converged on the Sir Kashim Ibrahim House, Kaduna, for deliberations on the rising insurgency that has devastated the region.
In recent months, only a few of the 19 states in the North were spared of banditry and insurgency.
The governor of Gombe State, Inuwa Yahaya, who read the communique at the end of the meeting, said northern leaders have identified illegal mining as a major driver of insecurity, fuelling armed groups, financing criminal gangs and destabilising rural communities.
They urged the President to mandate the minister of Solid Minerals to subject all mining licences to a six-month revalidation audit.
Yahaya, who chairs the NGSF, said the forum expressed deep concern about recent killings and mass abductions in Kebbi, Kwara, Kogi, Niger, Sokoto, Jigawa and Kano states, as well as renewed Boko Haram attacks in Borno and Yobe, and condoled with the affected families.
The forum lauded President Tinubu for the prompt rescue operations that led to of some abducted children, and the security agencies for battling insurgents and bandits.
Yahaya said the region is united in backing every decisive step to crush the criminal elements.
He said the governors and monarchs endorsed the push for state police, urging lawmakers from the North to move swiftly to actualise the constitutional amendments required for its operations.
“The forum collectively resolved to work closely with the Federal Government under President Tinubu to turn the tide and ensure lasting peace and stability for our region and the nation,” he added.
To strengthen regional security coordination, Yahaya said the forum approved creation of a Northern Security Trust Fund, to be financed by a N1billion monthly contribution from each state and local government, deducted at source under an agreed framework.
He said the fund, with the proposed mining suspension, would disrupt key revenue channels for armed groups, boost law-enforcement capability, and support a unified security response in the 19 states.
Yahaya said underdevelopment, illiteracy, climate change, unemployment and poor resource management should be addressed in parallel with military responses.