Afenifere lauds Southwest govs’ resolution on joint security

• Urges Concrete Steps To Enhance Food Production
The pan-Yoruba socio-cultural and socio-political organisation, Afenifere, on Friday, lauded the governors of the six states in the South West geo-political zone over their decision to establish a Joint Surveillance Monitoring Team to oversee and coordinate security efforts across the region.

The National Publicity Secretary of the organisation, Jare Ajayi, made the commendation on behalf of the group in a statement in Ibadan.

It would be recalled that the six governors met at the Lagos State Secretariat, Alausa, Ikeja, on Thursday, where they resolved to establish the surveillance team as well as to take steps to bring down food prices in the region.

The Thursday meeting was the second since the South West Governors’ Forum (SWGF) elected Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos as its chairman on June 10, 2024.

Afenifere described the resolutions at the meeting as good and timely.

“Incidentally, a framework is already in place for them to work on. That is the Southwest Security Network otherwise called ‘Amotekun’. All the states in the region have Amotekun except Lagos. What they need to do now is not only to ensure that Lagos establishes its own but to streamline the activities of the body, equip it and boost the morale of its personnel through appropriate wages and other incentives,” Ajayi said.

He stated that it is worthy of note that the governors expressed their readiness to deploy advanced technology, including aerial surveillance systems in their areas.

He, however, urged the governors to go beyond mere postulation or rhetoric to actualise the decision by “procuring and deploying modern equipment for the purpose of detecting security threats as well as providing the wherewithal to apprehend would-be culprits possibly before crimes are committed and certainly even after the commission of criminality.”

Enjoining the governors to speed up the implementation of their resolution, Ajayi recalled that the Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, only last month, revealed that bandits had established camps in his state and mentioned an area near Fashola in Oyo-Iseyin axis where he observed his birthday vacation in December 2024.

On the resolution of the governors to “implement collective measures aimed at curbing food inflation in the region”, Ajayi said: “They should focus more on ensuring that foods are produced in large quantities in their respective areas. If food items are surplus, sellers and middlemen would be forced to sell at reasonable prices.

In any case, governments can even set up special areas where foods they produce can be procured by citizens as Lagos State is doing.”

The statement maintained that setting up ‘State Food Inflation Joint Monitoring Team’ and ‘Aggregation Centre/Food Hubs’ as announced would not likely achieve the objective of mitigating food inflation.

“What can achieve this is to ensure that foods are produced in large quantities in the region. It is a known fact that most of the foods being consumed in the South West come from other regions outside of Yorubaland. This was not the case in the past. We should take steps to ensure that we produce what we consume – or at least a good quantum of what we consume,” the statement added.