Following levies and taxes imposed by armed bandits on farmers to pay before they can harvest their farm produce, Niger State Government has ordered communities to ignore the directive as it has put up a security architecture to protect them.
Commissioner of Local Government, Chieftaincy Affairs and Internal Security, Mr Emmanuel Umar, while reacting to the threat in a press briefing urged the communities to ignore the criminal threat and go ahead to harvest their farm produce.
He explained that 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.
The Commissioner noted that the state government is alive to its responsibilities and has put modalities in place to ensure that those behind the threat are apprehended and brought to book.
“We are aware that God has blessed our farmers with bumper harvest this cropping 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 possible to ensure that criminals don’t have a space in our community.”
He urged communities to become more resilient in order to frustrate Banditry activities by defying their command across the state.
“Some unpatriotic people are fuelling insecurity and crisis in the state, but Government is up to its responsibility,” he said.
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