Governorship aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) in Benue state, Mr. Terwase Orbunde has promised to do cluster resettlement patterns in the rural areas to tackle insecurity when elected to govern the state come 2023.
Orbunde stated this at his Makurdi residence when he received members of the correspondent chapel, few weeks after his miraculous survival from a ghastly motor accident, last December.
Orbunde who noted that security is a big issue across the country and Benue state in particular, disclosed that “from the northern boundaries of the state, we are going to do resettlement patterns, cluster settlements because as it is, the attacks that come are not organized. They go to isolated village or compound and get a husband, wife and children and kill.
“We would like to encourage new settlement patterns because we need to open up our lands in a way that agriculture will be done in a mechanized manner to allow movement of tractors to further enhance their productivity.
He also pledged to create micro defense systems in every community in the state as first line of defense before reinforcement.
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“Micro Defence systems will be created like what we have now, the Volunteer Guards. Every community should have a volunteer guard because the people in the communities should form the local defense system, for first line of defense before reinforcement can come, that way the conventional security can be assisted since they can’t be everywhere,” he said.
Mr. Orbunde also stated that in planning the cluster settlements, he would also ensure that the over 1.5 million Internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the state are moved to structured settlements.
“We will need to organize the movement of IDPs systematically. In other words, IDPs must be moved to structured placed that are organized.”
The guber hopefully expressed worry over the continued stay of IDPs in camps saying the development was hampering food security across the country.
Orbunde who was the immediate past Chief of Staff to the Governor commended Governor Samuel Ortom for standing strong in the face of stiff opposition to sign the Benue’s Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law saying when elected, he would build on the gains of the law to ensure the security of lives and property of the Benue people.
The guber aspirant who noted that he already has full knowledge of the workings of government promised to look into power generation, aids and grants to encourage industrial and infrastructural development in the state.
