Abdulrasaq Meets Makinde As Oyo Fulani Crisis Creates Refugee Problems In Kwara State

Kwara State Governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq, has held a meeting with his Oyo State counterpart, Seyi Makinde, on how to address the challenges of Internally Displaced Persons now scattered around 13 villages of Kwara State.

The two governors held a meeting in Ibadan on Tuesday to find a way to resolve the problems and agreed to set up a joint committee to address the challenges of IDPs.

This was contained in a statement by Mr Taiwo Adisa, the Chief Press Secretary to Makinde.

Some persons living in Ibarapa area of Oyo State, including the Seriki Fulani of Ibarapa, Salihu AbdulKadir, migrated from the area to Kwara State following the crisis in the area.

The joint committee will work out modalities on how the two states could mutually address the situation and surmount security challenges within their territories and to also seek alignments and collaboration on economic and security fronts.

Makinde, who spoke at the end of the meeting said, “We also acknowledged the fact that non-state actors are getting the upper hand in communicating and spreading hatred within our country. So, we asked that our leaders must speak with one voice, especially the Nigeria Governors’ Forum. We have to be firm and decisive in dealing with the security challenges we are currently faced with.

“We have also taken notice of the fact that our intelligence-gathering efforts have to be deepened. Considering some of the situations we have been faced with recently, we have had to react instead of being able to act before those things occur, due to some intelligence failure.”

Makinde equally called on the traditional rulers in Oyo and Kwara States to come together and exchange information and ideas on how to surmount the security challenges.

He said, “Also, traditional rulers on both sides of the boundaries, between Oyo and Kwara States, will be encouraged to come together in unity and exchange information.

“In that manner, our intelligence agencies will be able to proactively deal with the situation rather than being reactive.”

The governor added that the meeting agreed that there was the need for a working relationship between the two states and that the states would announce the members of the joint team in a matter of days.

He stated, “We agreed that a more detailed working team is to be set up between Oyo and Kwara states. We know that the issues to be addressed have wider national ramifications.
“Yes, they asked somebody to leave Igangan and that has created issues in Kwara State, where Internally Displaced Persons are now spread over 13 villages and seven local government areas in the state, with its attendant challenges of maintenance of those individuals.

“We believe that the working team to be set up should be able to dispassionately look at those challenges and come up with solutions, which my brother-governor and I will be able to look at and solve.”

He also assured that Oyo State would take advantage of the National Livestock Transformation Plan, which, according to him, is already being implemented in Kwara State, with a view to further collaborating on the economic and security levels.

“Also, the National Livestock Transformation plan is currently not implemented in Oyo State but Kwara State has started its implementation over a year ago. So, we believe that there is lateral learning that Oyo State will be able to take advantage of and this should lead to further collaboration on the economic and security levels. So, that is what we have discussed so far.

“I believe in the days ahead, probably within the next couple of days, we should be able to disclose to the public the members of this working team between Oyo and Kwara States. And in the weeks ahead, we will also be taking recommendations from them for implementation.”