No LG Area Taken Over By Bandits- Niger Gov

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – Niger state governor, Mohammed Bago on Tuesday said that no local government area in the state is under the control of bandits.

Bago spoke with State House correspondents after he joined Progressive Governors Forum, PGF, governors to meet with President Bola Tinubu to congratulate him on the successful election of the presiding officers of the National Assembly.

Speaking on how he would handle the challenge of banditry in the state, Bago said that the state has a lot of ungoverned spaces as a result of its vast land, adding that he was working with security agencies to curb the menace of bandits.

According to him, the activities of bandits in the state was due to the vast land, stressing that Niger shared boundaries with neighbouring countries like Benin Republic and some states in the country where pastoralists come from.

“We don’t have any local government that has been taken over by bandits but we have bandits activities in the local government areas”, he said.

On the inclusion of women in his government, Bago stated that he would ensure that all the local government council vice chairpersons in the state would be occupied by females.

The governor said that he has already made five appointments which are all males and that the next five appointments he would make would be females.

He also assured that there would be no gender disparity, stressing that there would be equal distribution of political appointments for both male and female gender.