*Say Nigeria under threat
*Demand decentralization, empowerment for security agencies
By; BAYO AKAMO , Ibadan
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Kinsmen, under the umbrella of the Pan-Yoruba socio-cultural and political organization, Afenifere yesterday, alerted that there is urgent need to decentralize and empower security agencies in Nigeria
Afenifere while raising the alarm in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Jare Ajayi, declared that this became necessary if the insecurity that is fast consuming the nation is to be brought under control.
In the statement, Afenifere stressed that the spate of internal security breaches in various parts of the country is becoming alarming and that President Bola Tinubu and relevant security agencies in the country should rise up to it .
According to the Pan Yoruba socio political organization the series internal security breaches in Nigeria recently, ” has naturally, led to a deficit in food items thus ocassioning high costs of food items that are available’.
” The spate of insecurity in the country means that there is an urgent need to decentralize and empower the security agencies if the insecurity that is fast consuming the nation is to be brought under control”, it said.
Afenifere added, ” As we have been shouting for about two years now, the President is enjoined to promptly give an Executive Order allowing state and local governments in the country to set up their own police forces as is being practiced by various countries that are heterogenous and large.
” Machinery can then be set in motion for the National Assembly to quickly amend the relevant sections of the Constitution accordingly”.
Afenifere stressed, ” The time to do so is now, if a stop is to be put to the avoidable loss of lives, properties, declining economic activities due to fear of being kidnapped and the trauma that these acts of banditry are causing the people”.
Lamenting that this was compounded by high cost of transportation due to the removal of fuel subsidy among other things”, Afenifere maintained, ” To
worsen the situation, schools are being targeted by criminal elements as reports have it that no fewer than 34 students were kidnapped in five incidents between September 22 and October 15, 2023, alone. Some of the incidents included the abduction of over 24 students of the Federal University of Gusau in Zamfara State on September 22, 2023.
” The development informed the recent decisions by The Nigeria Police Force and Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSDC) to announce a plan to jointly come up with ‘Safe School Initiative’ in higher educational institutions across the country.
” From the foregoing, there is no doubt that the incidents of kidnapping, herders/farmers clashes and other terrorists’ activities predated the present Tinubu administration. It even predated Buhari administration who handed the baton over to President Tinubu. Indeed, there was a lull immediately the new President was sworn-in on May 29, 2023. But about a month after, the monster reared its catastrophic head again leading to the death of many, maiming and traumatization of several and loss of properties running into several millions of Naira”.
