By Samson Kukwa-Yanor

The governor of Benue state Rev Hyacinth Alia has identified education and the creation of state police as the answer to Nigeria’s security challenges.

The Benue state governor who was the guest lecturer at the 1st Quarterly Guest Lecture Series of the University of Abuja (now Yakubu Gowon University) insisted that “there is an urgent need to enable states with the capacity and political will to establish their own police services while maintaining effective federal coordination and oversight”

Delivering his public lecture with the theme “Insecurity and education in Nigeria: The Benue model as a pathway to national development” on Thursday at the auditorium of the faculty of law, the governor said that the nation needs a good public service and strong institutions to handle the deteriorating security situation.

On education, Alia stated that illiteracy is a fertile ground for vices and other violent crimes. He said that in a situation where the bulk of the people in a society have not gone through any form of formal education makes it easier for such a society to fall prey to any form of societal manipulation.

“While education remains the most sustainable long-term response to insecurity, it must be complemented by institutional reforms that strengthen Nigeria’s security architecture. I am a strong advocate of State Police and have consistently maintained that our current centralized policing structure is no longer sufficient to address the complex and evolving security challenges confronting our nation.

“I was among the earliest Nigerians to publicly campaign for the establishment of State Police and personally made a passionate appeal to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, urging him to support this critical reform as a necessary and urgent step towards better protecting our people and strengthening national security. Recent efforts by the President, National Assembly, in collaboration with the Office of the National Security Adviser, to advance constitutional reforms on Nigeria’s security architecture are therefore commendable. I wholeheartedly welcome the landmark decision to give serious consideration to this important national issue. It is a bold, timely and necessary response to the security realities facing our country,” he said.

Speaking in a similar vein, the Vice Chancellor, University of Abuja Professor Hakeem Fawehinmi re-echoed the Benue governor’s call for the establishment of state police and described it as the answer to the endemic insecurity prevalent in Nigeria at the moment.

Professor Fawehinmi who expressed satisfaction with the lecture by the Benue state governor stated that Alia had proven that it was not a mistake to select him out of a motley of choices for the inaugural University of Abuja Quarterly Guest Lecture Series.

Coordinator of the lecture Professor Owojecho Omoha had earlier explained that the choice of governor Alia to deliver the inaugural guest lecture was due to his track record of service to the society even before his foray into partisan politics.