The Northern Governors Forum, NGF has called on the Federal Government to exercise caution in its plan to withdraw troops from hot-spots areas.
The Federal Government had after a meeting of the National Security Council announced that beginning from the first quarter of this year, it would gradually withdraw military operations in some volatile areas in the country.
The Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas, who briefed journalists after the meeting, clarified that withdrawal of troops would be done after an assessment to determine areas where peace had returned in order to enable civil authorities to assume full control of security.
But the Northern Governors Forum chairman and Plateau State Governor, Simon Lalong advised that caution be taken in withdrawing troops, from unstable states where Governors and other stakeholders were beginning to build confidence in the people.
