EKITI State Governor, Kayode Fayemi, on Monday said there was a correlation between insurgency in the north-eastern part of the country and banditry as well as kidnapping in the North-West and South-West respectively.

He claimed that the same set of people were responsible for the crimes, adding that the masterminds used the ransom they collected from kidnapping in other parts of the country to fund insurgency in the North-East.

Fayemi, who is also the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum, disclosed these in an interview with State House correspondents after a meeting with the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The governor said, “There is a direct correlation between insurgency in the North-East and what we are seeing manifesting itself as banditry in the North-West or kidnapping in the South-West.

“Some of the people involved in these are also the ones responsible for insurgency. They are using the resources they make from kidnapping for the activities they are conducting in the North-East.

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“So, we need to take a comprehensive look at all these things and not treat them in compartments. We must treat them as a comprehensive issue and then tackle them collectively.”

Fayemi said military action alone would not resolve the nation’s security challenges, adding that the challenges required political will to tackle.

The governor added, “I don’t think we are naive enough to think that it is simply a military action that will resolve all these security challenges.

“They have root causes and the root causes require political will, political action on our part against poverty, inequality and disconnections between our youths and the government.”