Vice President , Yemi Osinbajo has assured victims of the unrest in Plateau State that they will benefit from the Federal Government’s N10 billion fund due to be released for the rehabilitation of farmers who have been displaced from their ancestral homes in the State. Osinbajo disclosed this while briefing journalists in Jos after a closed-door meeting with warring communities in the State.
He said, “I have given instruction that we don’t want to hear that these killings and maiming of lives continue, the heads of security who are here have taken that very seriously and intend to ensure that there is peace and security. “We are expecting to release relief materials, already NEMA is here with me and I have instructed them to ensure that relief materials are provided in various areas where they are required. “Talking about the N10 billion fund which the President has approved mainly for the rehabilitation of farmers in the state, that fund is to enable farmers who have lost their farmlands and means of livelihood to start new life and go back to their farms.”
Osinbanjo stressed that the Federal Government had discussed with the affected people and was looking for a medium and long time solution to the problem. “In the medium long time, we are looking at more prominent solution to the problem of insecurity and we have discussed this with the community leaders and they have made their suggestions and we will look at how to implement several of these suggestions. “Some of the suggestions include permanent positioning of security agencies in areas that are prone to this violence and we intend to look at that request and to see how we can put in place permanent security, that is the Police and in some cases the Military in some of these places where flash points tend to be.
“We will ensure that there is justice because those who have been killed cannot just be killed and we allow those who carried out the crime to go by, it is not acceptable, it is our duty to ensure that these individuals are prosecuted, we will make sure that those who have been arrested are duly prosecuted and others who are engaged in this heinous act are arrested,” he said.