Six governors from the North West and North Central geo-political zones on Saturday met behind closed doors in Kaduna to deliberate on ways to end the serial cases of cattle rustling affecting their states.

The deliberation which took place at the Kaduna State House had in attendance, governors of Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto and Niger States.

Also in attendance were top officials of various security outfits in the affected states.

Briefing reporters at the end of the meeting, Governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari, said the state governors were concerned about the security threat posed by castle rustling.

He said the meeting was held to fashion out ways in which the ugly trend could be curbed, adding that the various security outfits were equally invited to proffer solutions.

He added that subsequently, the participants agreed that security operations would be expanded to focus on the forest areas where the notorious rustlers and bandits usually operated from.

He said the governors agreed to provide the needed support to the law enforcement agencies so they could dislodge the cattle rustlers from their enclaves.

He said further that the governors would equally put in place measures to curb youth restiveness in the region by creating more empowerment opportunities for the teeming youths.

It is estimated that over 30,000 cows and other livestock have been stolen by armed bandits in the past one year.

Several meetings have been held in the past by Northern State governors to address the challenge but no solution has been found yet.