Governors divided over state police

DESPITE a presidential panel’s recommendation for the establishment of state and local government police, state governors are still divided over the issue, given their varying experiences in their respective localities.

Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) and governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi, while briefing State House correspondents on the outcome of a meeting President Muhammadu Buhari had with state governors and security chiefs in Abuja on Friday, said even though the states had the means to sustain state policing, the NGF had not taken any decision on it.

He said the contending issues involved would be sorted out at the next meeting of the National Economic Council (NEC).

Responding to a question on the likelihood of state policing, given that the security forces are overstretched, he said: “The position of NGF on that is that we have not taken a position because experiences vary. There are governors and states where their experience does not necessarily lean itself to more evolved policing of the states.

“There are also states where there are agitations for it. There are governors who have the views that that will work better in such states. And of course, there are the economic issues relating to that. So, we have the capacity at the state level to fund state policing.

“Those are all issues that will come into play when we get to the National Economic Council meeting that has been called, particularly because there is a committee that is looking into it after the submission of the report on SARS. So, we will take all of these together.

“Specifically in terms of when the meeting will take place, I am going to the Vice President’s office to finalise the timing for the meeting.”

The governor, who briefed the media alongside his colleagues from Ebonyi (David Umahi), Kebbi (Atiku Bagudu), Delta (Ifeanyi Okowa), Ondo (Rotimi Akeredolu), Plateau (Simon Lalong) and Borno (Babagana Zulum), revealed that the meeting was at the instance of the governors who he said were concerned about security situation in the country.

“We had a very fruitful meeting with Mr President. Of course, he was not oblivious of the challenges. He gets security reports on a daily basis, and he understands what the issues are. But we felt that as chief security officers in our respective states, it is also important for us to at least keep Mr President abreast of the enormity of the challenges we are facing and also highlight the concerns of our citizens across the board about rural banditry, farmers/herders clashes, kidnapping, insurgency, cultism and militancy in the Delta.

“So, we discussed extensively all of these issues and looked at the various ways that we felt as governors we could assist Mr President as the commander-in-chief to curb these issues,” he said.

He said the meeting explored the connection between economic and security challenges and stressed the need to identify the causes of crimes rather than just the crimes.

“We also looked at the criminal justice system that appears to give some room for impunity. When people commit crimes and they are not punished effectively in accordance with the statutes, it then creates an opportunity for replicating such crimes. And, of course, Mr President is also equally concerned about that,” he added.

He spoke of the President’s assurance to work with the governors to tackle the various challenges.

“He said he would work with us to address questions of intelligence, of broadening community policing, of ensuring inter-service coordination among the various security agencies, of strengthening the criminal justice system, of working with our state’s innovatively on mechanism for addressing these issues, be it security trust fund that brings the public and the private players together in order to fund security and increase the resources available to security institutions.

“Already, all of us are involved in funding. There is no governor that is not buying security vehicles, ammunition for police, giving allowances to our security agencies be they SSS or police or in some cases, the military, where the military is involved. We are already involved. It is just to ensure that we have a better and much more coordinated mechanism for addressing this,” the governor said.

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Fayemi said the meeting agreed that the issues would be more comprehensively dealt with at a special meeting of the NEC.

On the utilisation of the $1billion given to President Buhari by the state governors for the purchase of military hardware, the NGF boss said the governors were happy to give the President the support he needs but would also demand for accountability.

“On the $1 billion, it may seem like a huge amount of money and it is a huge amount of money but when you are dealing with security issues, where a Tucano jet costs more than $50 million and you are getting, say 20, you know how much that is already.

“I am not giving you specific details of how that money was expended. We will be happy to do that but we feel that that is really not a matter for us as governors. Yes, we were supportive of it because our position has always been whatever is required by the commander-in-chief to resolve security challenges in Nigeria, we will line up behind him and support him.

“Of course yes, we demand accountability. We will like to assure you that the $1 billion taken was definitely expended among the various security services but the details I cannot give you from the top of my head because I wasn’t expecting you to ask that question,” he explained.

PDP governors express concern over ‘politicisation’ of security

Meanwhile, governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have expressed concern over what they see as the Federal Government’s politicisation of security in the country, particularly in states controlled by the opposition.

Rising from a meeting of the PDP Governors Forum in Abuja on Thursday night, the governors said they would seek audience with President Muhammadu Buhari to address the issue.

The chairman of the Sforum and governor of Bayelsa State, Henry Dickson, who addressed the media after the meeting, said: “We expressed deep concern over the politicisation of the security apparatus by the Federal Government and its agencies, essentially in the states they are not in control of and we believe also that this is the reason for the widespread insecurity. So, we will take some of these issues up when we interact with the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria tomorrow or whenever we see him.”

S/West states to hold security summit

Governors of states in the South-West have decided to hold a regional summit that will bring all critical stakeholders together to brainstorm on how to stem the tide of insecurity in the region.

Speaking after a special meeting at the Ondo State Governor’s Lodge in Abuja on Friday, Governor Rotimi Akeredolu said the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) Commission had been directed to coordinate the summit aimed at further promoting the developmental agenda of the South West region.

“There is an urgent need to stem the growth of criminal activities and banditry in our region and as leaders, we must be proactive in our approach to addressing the issue,” Akeredolu said.

He stated further that a consulting firm, KPMG, had been appointed to review the tenure of the Group Managing Director of Oodua Investment Company, which has all the South-West state governments as shareholders.

The meeting, which was attended by the Lagos State governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu; the Ondo State governor, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu; the Ekiti State governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi; the Oyo State governor, Mr Seyi Makinde and Osun State governor, Mr Gboyega Oyetola, unanimously adopted Mr Akeredolu as the chairman of the South West Governors’ Forum.

The Forum resolved to reconvene at a later date for further deliberations.