IN order to checkmate the activities of Boko Haram insurgency and religious extremism in the North, the19 northern states governors yesterday inaugurated a Committee of Attorney Generals and Commissioners of Justice.

The committee is mandated to review criminal laws and proscribe the recruitment of new membership for the terrorist group.

While inaugurating the committee in Kaduna, Governor of Borno State and Chairman of the Northern States Governor’s Forum (NSGF), Alhaji Kashim Shettima, said Boko Haram insurgency, which has been raging on for the past six years is one of the many serious security challenges facing the northern region.

Shettima said one of the causes of insurgency was unlicensed and inciting preaching by the sect, which stoked violence in the region.

He said there is a need to review criminal laws to check the activities of the insurgents and other extremist religious groups.

According to the governor, “the attendant consequences of the insurgency is the resort to abduction and conscription of vulnerable and innocent people particularly school children.”

He commended President Buhari for his “remarkable” success in the area of security. To overcome security challenges confronting the region, Shettima said there is need for the review of the criminal justice system of the Northern States.

He said the Committee members “were selected to critically examine the criminal justice system of the northern states vis-à-vis the current spate of emerging criminal offences prevalent in the region and determine how best to incorporate them into the Penal Code”.

According to him, the establishment of this Committee is the direct outcome of one of the resolutions of the last meeting of the Northern States Governors’ Forum held last month in Kaduna.