A former Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, has urged the Federal Government to negotiate with bandits in order to end the menace in Nigeria.
According to Shittu, exploring other non-kinetic approaches may prove to be better way to end bandit attacks in rural communities upcountry.
Shittu, an ex-minister in the cabinet of ex-President Muhammadu Buhari, stated this on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Tuesday.
“If I am in position, it is not too late to use non-kinetic neasures in negotiating with bandits, giving them a promising future. Let us retain them. Many of them are very intelligent, many of them are able-bodied,” Shittu said, adding that the military spending on equipment far outweighed the non-kinetic approach.
The ex-minister said the millions of out-of-school children in Northen Nigeria is a “production factory for banditry” in the country.
Politics Nigeria recalls that Ahmad Gumi, an Islamic cleric based in Kaduna State, has also advocated for dialogue with bandits troubling the country.
The controversial preacher was invited by security personnel to answer questions on the security challenge, especially banditry, currently bedeviling the country.
