Niger State Governor Umar Muhammed Bago said that farmers in the state have abandoned their farms owing to activities of bandits and other criminals.
According to a statement issued yesterday by the NSCDC’s spokesman, Babawale Afolabi, he said this during a visit by the Commandant-General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Ahmed Abubakar Audi.
“Niger State is being referred to as food basket of the country largely due to our largest land mass in the country which is also suitable for agriculture and being made use by the government and large percentage of the people.
“But the growing security concern meant that our people are constantly at the mercy of bandits and other criminal elements,” he lamented.
The governor also decried activities of illegal miners in the state.
Audi promised to further enhance the working relationship of the NSCDC and other security agencies to rid the state of the criminal elements.