By Amos Aar
IN RESPONSE to persistent armed herdsmen attacks, the Benue State Emergency Management Agency (BSEMA), Nasarawa State Emergency Management Agency (NASEMA), and Plateau State Emergency Management Agency (PSEMA) have jointly launched a campaign urging the closure of inter-state boundaries among the three North Central states.
The campaign was officially announced at the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Secretariat in Makurdi on Tuesday during a condolence visit by the emergency officials from Nasarawa and Plateau states to Benue.
The visit followed the recent massacre of over 200 people in Yelwata Community in Guma LGA of Benue State.
Speaking during the visit, the Permanent Secretary of the Benue State Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management and head of BSEMA, Dr James Iorpuu, lamented the worsening security situation in the state.
“There has been sustained and coordinated attacks on Benue communities since 2011, and these have intensified on an hourly or daily basis, as the case may be. We were all shocked as a state and as a region to witness the massacre of over 200 people in Yelwata on June 13. What happened in Yelwata has not happened anywhere else in the world,” he said.
On his part, the Executive Secretary of PSEMA, Hon. Sunday Abdul, decried the continued killings, stating that the Middle Belt is under siege. He called for sustained prayers for divine intervention.
Also speaking, the Director General of NASEMA, Barr. Ben Akwash, stressed the need for stronger regional collaboration.
“It behoves us to interface and explore ways of collaborating and cooperating with one another to strengthen our collective ability to discharge our mandates effectively,” he said.
The joint campaign marks a renewed push for regional security cooperation among the three states most affected by the ongoing violence.
