The National Assembly, according to Rep. Ibrahim Almustapha-Rabah (APC-Sokoto), is totally devoted to securing Nigeria.
In Abuja on Monday, Mr. Almustapha-Rabah, who is the federal representative for Rabah/Wurno, spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria.
The National Assembly is working diligently on a variety of issues, either individually or collectively, with the same goal in mind: a more prosperous and safe Sokoto State and Nigeria.
”We hope these modest efforts and approaches will yield a positive result in the near future.
“We are therefore on it securely, proactively and we are as always focused and alive to our responsibilities,” he said
Almustapha-Rabah claims that the country’s fabric has been severely damaged by the problem of insecurity caused by a few criminally inclined persons.
He continued by saying that the vulnerable populations had already been overstretched by insecurity and its problems.
”These communities were hitherto blossoming economic hubs populated by very active, happy and determined people.
”The landscapes were very green, richly endowed and highly fertile, ready for anything to grow for prosperity and wealth creation.
”Our blessed livestock population provides all we need to support not only our basic needs, but even self–help community projects and to, as well, support others,” Almustapha-Rabah said.
He said those beautiful sceneries have faded over the years, the simple reason being that the fertile lands provide a safe haven to miscreants.
Almustapha-Rabah said miscreants freely move with sophisticated weapons, killing, maiming, seizing livestock and kidnapping for ransom.
The lawmaker lamented that the insecurity situation was an act similar to a war of attrition, economic sabotage and annihilation.
Almustapha-Rabah added, ”Unfortunately those criminal elements were nurtured by our collective action or inaction in addressing the identified gaps, particularly in education and employment generation.
”The street boys, the out-of-school children, the Almajiris of the last 20 years are the grown-up unemployed population we are managing today.
“Some of them frustrated and hopeless went into drugs and crime, the nexus being failure to address some basic issues of needs and development in the past”.
He asserted that Education, Infrastructure, and Agriculture remain the major drivers of development and must be taken seriously for the state to succeed.
”At our level, there was virtually nothing we had not raised and discussed at the chambers on way and means and how to go about it,” the legislator said.
According to him, it is therefore going to be a mere repetition and a duplication of effort to continually bring up the issue for publicity’s sake.
“More often, the resolutions passed by the National Assembly require time and funding to implement.
”We believe the present administration at both the Federal, under President Bola Tinubu and Sokoto State, under Governor Ahmed Aliyu are committed to redressing the ugly trend.
”They have this zeal more than ever before to support those concerned security agencies to deliver on their constitutional mandates,” Almustapha-Rabah said.
He said that recently, the governor bought operational vehicles to further support the security agencies.
”We on the other hand as your representatives, having identified some of the gaps and the root cause of the problem, are working hard, though silently, to restore our infrastructure,” the lawmaker said.
Almustapha-Rabah listed some of their projects to include the dilapidated 81km Rabah-Bakura road, solar-powered lights, empowerment for women and recent efforts to restock livestock.
“Efforts to get our children back to school, creating jobs through alternative and second chance opportunities for school drop-outs in the country among others, are our ongoing projects,” he said.
