Adbulrasheed Akanbi, oluwo of
Iwoland in Osun state, has called on the federal government to make provision
for security votes for the traditional institution to help fight insecurity in
the country.
Akanbi, who spoke to journalists
in Osogbo, the state capital on Monday, said the traditional rulers are closer
to the grassroots and are privy to the intelligence needed to curb crimes in
communities.
According to him, the police
cannot effectively perform their duty of securing the people because the force
is “underfunded and understaffed”, hence the need to collaborate with
traditional rulers.
“Traditional rulers should be
empowered to domesticate security at the grassroots which constitutes higher
percent of the hideouts for kidnappers. Co-opting monarchs will unavoidably
decimate security threat,” Akanbi said.
“But traditional institution
should be given security vote to engage local hunters, vigilante, the
Agbekoyas, trusted local Odua Peoples Congress (OPC), among others. In my own
capacity, I am trying my utmost best in my domain but the institution I
represent deserves security funding to act more.
“I have personally arrested a
criminal in my domain and handed him over to the police. I know the nooks and
crannies of my city. No criminal can survive with illegality here. I have
instilled the fear in them and this has decimated atrocities in Iwo. I am ready
to do more if empowered by engaging trusted local security details.
“The police saddled with this
primary responsibility is underfunded and under staffed. Nigeria of over 200
million population is parading about 300,000 policemen. The police should be
equipped with modern tools and should be paid good salaries and as well be
assured of job security to motivate them for maximal performance.
“Government should provide
surveillance helicopters to aid technical detective assignments by the police,
most especially when searching kidnappers’ hideouts.”
Akanbi linked the high rate of
crimes and banditry in the country to unemployment, saying the availability of
jobs will cause a drastic reduction in social vices in the society.
“…The ultimate panacea is the
implementation of robust youth based programs and empowerment for the Nigerian
youth,” he said.
“The root of every security
threat is unemployment. Addressing this will halt the menace of criminality and
clean our country of social vices.
“Strict punishment should be
enacted and uphold by agencies of government. The fear of legal reprisal can
equally disabuse some perpetrators.”
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com