20022021 - INSECURITY Give us state police now - Govs

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4 —SATURDAY VANGUARD, FEBRUARY 20, 2021 Burial ceremony of late Alh Lateef Olukayode Jakande at the Volts and Gardens, Ikoyi, Lagos. Insecurity: We’re in a season of anomie, give us state police now — Govs By Omeiza Ajayi & Olayinka Ajayi Governors of the 36 states of the Federation, yesterday, took stock of the nation’s security response strategy in the wake of renewed banditry and other criminal activities, and demanded for immediate creation of State Police, devolution of power, and resource control, lamenting that Nigeria is currently in a season of anomie. While they noted that Nigeria’s security response strategy is ad-hoc and reactive, Senate Minority Leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe urged security agencies, especially in the Southern part of the country to stop treating victims of criminal attacks as criminals. Abaribe spoke on Friday alongside the Ekiti state Governor and Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum, NGF, Dr Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State and Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State at a forum on “Strategies for pulling Nigeria from the brink”, organised by RadioNow 95.3 in partnership with NexTier. The governors also stated that Nigeria’s security agencies have continued to work at cross-purposes, making it difficult to solve Nigeria’s complex security equation. Governor el-Rufai, who spoke first demanded the immediate devolution of powers, saying there is need for state police and vesting the control of onshore mineral resources in the states. He said: “Since the insurgency in the North-East pushed things to a new low, this country does not have enough soldiers, uniform police or secret police to protect state power across its vast swathes particularly the forests. “The limited number of boots on the ground are not well equipped and are significantly lacking in the technology that can make their limited numbers matter a lot less. Slow justice system “The justice system operates with ethos and at a pace that does not reflect the fragility of the situation and the urgency to demonstrate that the rule of law is meaningful. Prosecutions take too long, so long that many citizens assume that the criminals have long been released, encouraging criminal conduct and raising the dangerous appeal of illegal self-help. “The states and local governments have limited hard power but considerable options and scope for the exercise of soft power, which requires for its effectiveness the looming shadow of credible coercive power. By this I mean unless people understand that there is a strong federal government with enforcement behind this soft power, the soft power will not be exercised with success. “We can overcome these debilitation. We are not the only country cobbled together by accident of history. We are more integrated than we think. “In my view, we must approach organizing our country as a deliberate task, beginning with the collective decision regarding what sort of society we intend to build and the means of attaining it”, el-Rufai stated. He said there has to be elite consensus on issues such as commitment to the rule of law and quick dispensation of justice; common citizenship and respect for residency rights; equal opportunity for all, respect for diversity as well as “the immediate devolution of powers to return the nation to the true federation of its founding fathers. *Say, security agencies working at cross-purposes *El Rufai, Fayemi loud on resource control, devolution of powers *Nigeria’s security response strategy ad-hoc, reactive *We’re practicing Kabiyesi democracy - Abaribe Popular Iju Ishaga market shutdown in honour of late Alh Kayode Jakande, former first civilian Governor of Lagos State order from the Lagos State Government. Photo Akeem Salau Three steps out “I will dwell on three of the issues that I believe are critical to the immediate needs of the country to pull back from the brink. The first is the imperative for federal, states and community policing. We do not have enough police. One centralised police for the country just has not worked. Secondly, we must amend the Constitution and relevant laws to vest control of oil and gas, mines and minerals other than offshore in the continental shelf and extended economic zones in the states that already have control over land under the Land Use Act with royalties and taxes payable to the federal government and to the Federation Account. Three, we must rectify the anomaly of a Federation that has a more or less unitary judiciary. “In addition too and in line with the foregoing points, I will recommend the following immediate decisions and actions by the Federal and State Governments with the support of our civil societies and all well-meaning Nigerians. “The first recommendation is to implement the three key devolution proposals that I mentioned above. Give us State Police now. Vest all minerals in the states now and decentralize our judiciary now, not later. “Two, let us be collectively emphatic about the right of every citizen to security, freedom of movement and right of residence; and that the choice of livelihood must conform with the laws of the land. “Three, we must identify, focus and deal decisively with all state and non-state actors in deeds, in conducts that amount to challenging the supremacy of the Nigerian state and our constitution without ethnic profiling or discriminatory treatment. “We must provide immediate and enhanced funding to acquire advanced equipment, armament and ordnance for the armed forces, police, security agencies and paramilitary agencies by drawing down from the pool of various federation funds like the Excess Crude Account, Natural Resource Account, Stabilization Account and so on, so that our security services will have the materials to face the criminals that menace us. “Number Five. Implement the National Livestock Transformation Plan already produced four years ago to enable accelerated investments in modern animal husbandry incorporating the rapid sedentarization of herders. “Also, there is need for the aggressive reduction of the cost of governance at federal, state and local government levels through merger of Ministries, Departments and Agencies MDAs with similar mandates and functions; and a nationwide freeze on creation of any new administrative, regulatory or executive bodies for the foreseeable future. We simply cannot afford it anymore. “Seventh, we need to forge a national consensus now, not later, to collect more taxes at both federal and state levels for the governments to be viable. This means also we must stop pretending that the regulated rates of lending, interest rates, exchange rates, prices of petrol and electricity as well as the salaries in the public sector are realistic, sustainable and will lead us to the promised land. These are decisions for here and now. As leaders, our obligation is to turn Nigeria’s moment of peril into breakthrough moments”, el-Rufai added. On his part, Fayemi who spoke on behalf of the Nigerian Governors Forum, NGF, said he agreed with all the submissions made by Gov. el-Rufai. He said: “I concur completely with virtually everything that my brother has put forward, but I have an added obligation as head of Nigerian Governors to share with you our perspectives collectively on these issues. “Given this worrisome state, whether it is insurgency in the North-East, farmers-herders conflict in the North-Central, banditry in the North-West, kidnapping in the South-West and the South-East; and of course all over the country, youth restiveness across the country that led to #EndSARS that we all unfortunately encountered in October, militancy, sea piracy in the South- South, the common thread is that we are now in a season of anomie in our country. “We have to pull Nigeria from the brink. To do this requires elite consensus as el- Rufai has just highlighted. Because when you review our interventions over the years, what is clear is that there are gaps in our security management system. There is an over-reliance on ad hoc, reactive and herd security as against proactive, development-oriented and human security response. Our security management strategy lacks a holistic, responsive peace and security architecture, which in turn leads states to put in place self-help security arrangements such as Amotekun, Hisbah and a whole range of them that have sprung up in states. “The lack of a comprehensive peace and security framework and structure and inadequate inter-agency synergy is showing among security agencies as they work at cross purposes and undermine themselves. This is a common story we hear among our various services with regards to the Boko Haram insurgency. “What has led to ethnic profiling more than anything else is that we hardly bring to book those who have been responsible for crimes and criminal acts in our country and we must do everything within our powers particularly in empowering our security institutions to do more and bring to book those purveyors of violence, those responsible for crime and criminality in our country. As governors, we do not subscribe to ethnic profiling. We believe that criminals come from all ethnicities. What is important is that we isolate a particular criminal. “It is absolutely important that we eschew ethnic profiling. When we see what has happened in other parts of the world, the Jews in Germany, the Blacks in America, the Tutsis in Rwanda, it is absolutely important that to pull back from the brink, we must not do anything to exacerbate what is already a problematic situation that we have found ourselves in.” Fayemi stressed the need for governors to pay more attention to forests and treat them as economic, developmental and security concerns. On his part, Senator Abaribe noted that what was lacking in solving Nigeria’s current existential challenges was not ideas but the political will to do what is necessary. He said since the North is reputed to have more landmass than the South, it would be unconscionable to ask Southerners with limited land to vacate their homes for those with large swathes of arable land. “There has been so much talk about profiling and I agree with it and I will like us to also have a conversation along that line. If a herder is carrying an AK47 and a criminal is carrying an AK47 and both of them are in the same place, how do you differentiate them? Because, it is necessary for us to be able to draw lines somewhere. “If the security personnel do not seem to be enough, that is not the main problem. As Minority Leader, I get calls from people to say that ‘this has happened here’. ‘These people have come and done this and we have reported to the police and when we report, we become the victims. They instead turn around to arrest us’. So, what type of training do we give to our law enforcement agencies so that they can differentiate between the genuine person who has a problem and somebody who they say is profiling a set of people? “Another question to ask is whether it is possible for Nigerians to ignore the matter of attachment to land. I read somewhere that close to 80 percent of Nigeria’s land is in the 19 states of the North and that about 22 percent or so is in the 17 states of the South. And somebody in a forest in the South is being told to leave his land in order to be alive so that another person can stay there. How do you think the person would feel?” he queried. El Rufai had also pointed out strongly that there were limitations to what they can do as governors, insisting that Nigerians must note the roles assigned state governors by the constitution and where the federal government holds authority. He said that Nigeria would be totally different if the constitution is amended today to accommodate the changes he recommended. He said that the National Assembly has a big role to play but unfortunately they have not lived up to expectations. To that Abaribe responded that “amending the constitution is not a difficult thing, but what we have is a Kabiyesi Democracy where what the man on top says is final”
How Nigeria can create State Police in 10 Days — Ekweremadu FORMER Deputy Presi dent of the Senate and Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Committee on Electoral Act and Constitutional Amendment, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, says decentralised policing remains the way out of the mounting security challenges in the country, noting that with the requisite political will, Nigeria could successfully amend the 1999 Constitution in 10 days to the needed legal framework for state police. Ekweremadu, who chaired the Senate Committee on Constitution Amendment in the 6th, 7th, and 8th National Assembly, while listing numerous successful electoral reforms and constitution amendments recorded under successive PDP administrations, enjoined the All Progressive Congress-led administration to take the bull by the horns by building on those successful efforts. He stated this during the inauguration of the PDP Committee on Electoral Act and Constitution Amendment in Abuja, Thursday evening, regretting that the security of lives and property had totally collapsed, hence the need for urgent steps to pull the nation back from the brinks. “The weaknesses in our structure and the Constitution we operate have never been as pronounced as they are today. I must also add that it is unfortunate that the rain, which some of us shouted on top of our voices, forewarning the nation against and even proposed policies and sponsored Bills to avert, is now beating us heavily. “I rallied my colleagues and together we sponsored the Bill for the Creation of State Police in the 8th National Assembly. I am equally sponsoring a Bill for the Creation of State Police in the current Senate. From left:Deputy Governor of Lagos State,Dr. Obafemi Hamzat; Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu;Special Adviser to Governor on Works & Infrastructure, Engr. Aramide Adeyoye, Head of Service, Mr Hakeem Muri-Okunola during the commissioning of Lagos-Ogun State Boundary Network of Road with Bridge Phase ll, in Agbado Ike-Odo, LCDA, Alimosho, Local Government, in Lagos,Yesterday. Photo: Joe Akintola, Photo Editor. SATURDAY VANGUARD, FEBRUARY 20, 2021 — 5 Mbadiwe to add value to APC, says Uzodinma “Unfortunately, we do not appear ready yet or show a sense of urgency to stem the tide of insecurity or rebuild our economy through the decentralisation or devolution of power. With the right political will, the amendments to the Constitution to achieve a decentralised police and secure lives and property can be achieved 10 days. “So long as we run a dysfunctional centralised policing, for that long will our insecurity-induced pains and losses continue to rise. The community policing initiative is illusory, cosmetic, ephemeral, inorganic, and will certainly not change anything. “It is either we do the right things to get the right results or continue to do the wrong things and live with the consequences of our choices, as is presently the case. We must also have it at the back of our minds that things will probably get worse. “Therefore, I call on our party faithful, the media, Civil Society, and well meaning Nigerians, to put narrow political, partisan, ethnic, religious, and sectional interest aside, and seize the opportunity of the ongoing constitution amendment exercise to immediately pull our nation back from the brinks”. On electoral reforms, the lawmaker also enjoined his colleagues, political leaders and Nigerians to support the move to amend the Electoral Act to allow early primaries and electronic transmission of results. On how the constitution can be amended in ten days he said the following” “First, we have to understand that the Constitution allows us as a parliament to regulate our proceedings. Remember that what the Constitution requires is that for you to amend any part of the constitution, you have to come through a Bill. You need a two-thirds majority of each chamber of the National Assembly. Then you go to the States to get at least one-thirds of each of at least 24 states voting in favour of such amendment. “So, if you now introduce the Bill on a Monday, for instance, you can actually do First Reading, Second Reading, and Third Reading the same day under our Rules. In fact, you can actually finish this particular Constitution amendment to decentralise the police in one week or less than 10 days. All you need to do is to suspend that Section that says you must take the First, Second, and Third Reading on three different days. “So, if you suspend the Rule, you take the First Reading, then the Second Reading is the debate. After the reading you send it to the Committee. That committee can actually be a Committee of the Whole House and everybody will now contribute. Because it is already a Bill, we can now take it clause by clause that same day. So, when it is now passed, probably the third day, you now send it to the State Assemblies. “But before all those, there has to be a meeting of the Governors, the President, the leadership of the National Assembly, the Speakers and principal officers of the State Assemblies. That way, once the political will is there and its is agreed at the meeting that this will be done, everybody will now be waiting to play his part. Of course, at the meeting, the President will guarantee that he would sign it. “So, once the National Assembly is done with the Bill in two or three days, it will be sent to the States Assemblies, which are already waiting for it because this is a national emergency. “Of course, the only role required of State Assemblies in constitution amendment is to vote yes or no because it is already processed and involves other states. After voting on the fourth day, they make a return on the fifth day. “On the same fifth day, the National Assembly seats again to ratify what the States have done. On that same day or the sixth day, it will be sent to the President for assent. “So, it can be achieved in maximum ten days if we really want to do it. If we now agree that it is the way to go to pull our nation from the brinks, believe me, we can achieve it. “How many days did it take us to amend the constitution to handle the issues arising from the late President Musa Yar’Adua’s illness? First, we did the Doctrine of Necessity to enable the then Vice President Goodluck Jonathan to take over because there was no provision in the 1999 Constitution at the time to handle the situation. Thereafter we came back to do the necessary constitution amendment. And it took us just a few days. “During the Yar’Adua administration when there was an urgent need to amend the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC Act, we deed it in just one day. Senators David Mark, Victor Ndoma-Egba, and Folarin are all living witnesses. It is a matter of political will. IMO State Governor Hope Uzodinma has declared that former Nigeria’s Ambassador to the Congo, Chief Greg Mbadiwe will add value to the ruling All progressives Congress ( APC). He said with the defection of Chief Mbadiwe to APC from PDP, many Igbo are heeding his calls for the south east to connect to the national grid of politics through APC. The governor spoke at the country home of Mbadiwe shortly after he registered and revalidated his membership of APC at Ward 11, Independent Hall,NDI Aniche Arondizuogu in Ideato North Local Government area of the state. He described the former diplomat as a consummate politician who has a lot to offer in strengthening the APC. According to him, Mbadiwe is like a Ronaldo or Neymar in a team, very valuable and strategic in the scheme of things. “We welcome him to the progressive fold and commend his decision to do the needful in positioning with the national grid,” he said. Earlier, Ambassador Mbadiwe who was a signatory to the formation of the opposition PDP, explained that he defected to APC to join hands with Uzodinma to take Igbo to the national grid of politics. He recalled that even his father,Dr K.O . Mbadiwe worked for the reintegration of Ndigbo to mainstream national politics even when it was risky to do so. According to him,he was also moved to join APC because of the incredible achievements recorded by the Imo State governor under the banner of the party. He enjoined other prominent Igbo to embrace APC ahead of the 2023 general elections to ensure that the south east has a voice in national politics. Ooni, Ademiluyi set to launch biggest Adire textile factory in Ile-Ife By Ephraim Oseji HIS Imperial Majesty, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi and Princess Ronke Ademiluyi, founder of Africa Fashion Week London are set to launch an Adire textile factory in Ile-Ife. Already being described as the biggest Adire Textile factory, the initiative is to provide opportunities for *Princess Ademiluyi cultural exchange between African and international students of design to learn about the unique adire fabric. To this end, Ooni and Princess Ademiluyi, who is also the Founder of Africa Fashion Week Nigeria hinted that the factory would be launched on February 22, to commemorate Annual Aje Festival in the state. The new cultural centre, a massive capital project that will require national and international funding will be built on a 30,000 square meters of land in Ile-Ife. Princess Ademiluyi, an award-winning fashion icon explained that the Cultural Centre will be a repository for the indigenous arts and crafts found in Africa. “It will provide an ecosystem for development, teaching and learning guided by tradition, innovation and sustainability and will connect the stories of indigenous arts to the heritage of Africa.” According to her “Other facilities within the complex will include a gallery for visiting exhibitions, a textile museum, a digital library, heritage artisan village (which will include the bronze casting, terracotta pottery and wood carving); an aso-oke cloth weaving pavilion, Yoruba culture academy, a design innovation lab and residential lodges. The cultural complex project starts with the opening of phase one - an Adire Textile Hub, which heralds the revival of indigenous fabric production and creative arts in Ife. “The Hub will generate employment and become an example of the Non-Oil Export Initiative promoted by the Nigerian government. It will increase the capacity of the artisans working in Ile-Ife and educate on the importance of sustainability and ethical and environmental practices.” Navy debunks report on complicity of personnel in maritime illegalities By Evelyn Usman THE Nigeria Navy, NN, has described report on com plicity of its officers and ratings in maritime illegalities as a grave allegation which was speculative and lacked facts, reiterating rather, its position on zero tolerance for economic sabotage. Report in one of the national dailies alleged that operators of illegal refineries paid huge amount of money to naval personnel to allow them operate and that owners of private refineries also claimed they paid naval personnel weekly or monthly depending on the agreement. In a swift reaction, the Navy, said it would invite members of the purported organisation to assist in identifying the naval personnel who received bribes to facilitate the alleged unpatriotic acts of economic sabotage. The Navy in a statement issued to Saturday Vanguard and signed by the Director of Information, Nigerian Navy, Commodore Suleiman Dahun, stated that as a responsible service saddled with the responsibility of fighting all forms of criminal activities in the nation’s maritime domain, it would not condone any act of indiscipline in that regard. The statement read:“The attention of the Nigerian Navy has been drawn to a news report in some newspapers captioned: ‘How Nigerian Navy Aids Crude Oil Theft, Herders’ Invasion.’ While the report is largely speculative, lacking in facts and substance and one-sided, the Nigerian Navy notes the attempt to substantiate and legitimise the allegations contained therein by quoting an unnamed official of an organisation called Domestic Refineries Owners Association of Nigeria, who made grave allegations of complicity against Nigerian Navy personnel.
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