Amid Security Concerns, Bandits Collect Levies in Niger
Amid growing security concerns, the Niger State government has confirmed the collection of levies by bandits in the state.
The state commissioner for Local Government, Chieftaincy Affairs and Internal Security, Mr Emmanuel Umar, made the confirmation in Minna yesterday where he said bandits now collect levies in form of taxes from farmers in the state to allow them harvest their farm produce.
He said the state government had ordered communities to ignore the directive as it has put up a security measures in place to protect the farmers.
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“Some criminal elements in Rumbun Giwa in Mashegu local government area of Niger State recently wrote under the name, Kungiyan Manuma, ordering all farmers to pay some specific levies and taxes before they can access their farms to harvest their farm produce.
“We are aware that God has blessed our farmers with bumper harvest this farming season and government is determined to support them.
These criminals are trying to extort the farmers; communities should support the security agencies. We are doing everything to ensure that criminals don’t have a space in our communities,” he added.
He further called on the communities to be resilient in order to frustrate the activities of bandits and terrorists by giving security agencies useful information to take proactive measures.
He said the state government had concluded arrangements to harmonise the activities of vigilante corps across the state to provide some level of support to the security agencies and even help in stopping prolife.
