‘Why FG should re-strategise to tackle insecurity, economic meltdown, others’

Edo govt unveils vigilante network

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State, Aiyamenkhue Edokpolo, yesterday, charged the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to redouble its efforts in addressing insecurity, economic meltdown and other challenges facing the country.

He said there were several viable and sustainable roadmaps to economic rediscovery and overhaul of the nation’s security architecture, insisting that there was an urgent need to adopt proactive measures aimed at rebuilding confidence in the judiciary, armed forces, Nigeria Police and the civil service in the New Year.

Edokpolo said this in his New Year’s message in Benin City, saying, he decided to make the plea: “After a thorough evaluation of President Buhari’s slow achievements and approach to national security and economic challenges and his commitment to the five-point demands by #EndSARS protesters.”

Speaking further, he said: “It has become necessary to solicit the support of all Nigerians to exercise patience and tolerance for the greater good of all Nigerians in the New Year.

“In 2021, we must forestall plans by perpetrators of violence to derail the youths into wayward tendencies. We should no longer accord respect and solidarity to saboteurs as if the masses are pawns in the polity.

“There are a number of security superstructure lying fallow in federal secretariat buildings across the country. It is high time the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved and implemented the recommendations and reports on the security challenges.

“Decongestion of the nation’s ports system has become overdue. Over concentration of the ports in Lagos is antithetical to economic and national security master plan, and it has had far-reaching negative consequences on Lagos State and the country at large.”

He argued that Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) that should be merged in accordance with peculiarity of their challenges and needs assessment should be executed in line with international best practices.

“We can’t keep doing the same things over and over under the guise of tradition and expect different results. While counting on the President’s assurance to address the five-point demands of the #EndSARS protesters, I urge President Buhari to ensure justice, equity and fairness in governance.

“Nigerians expect a more cosmopolitan posture from the Presidency in all matters of public administration and its deliverables unlike the hidebound tendencies of the past,” Edokpolo added.

He said the APC possessed the democratic pedigree to reposition the country, despite the galloping trends in programmes implementation and like the imperfection in all human organisations, only support of all Nigerians across board can pull the country through to its collective aspirations.”

MEANWHILE, the Edo State Government has launched a vigilante network to strengthen the state’s security architecture to deal with rising insecurity in the state.

The vigilante network, an initiative of Governor Godwin Obaseki, is a community-led effort to mobilise local communities to partner with government’s agencies in providing security and protecting life and property.

A lead expert on the vigilante scheme, Yusuf Haruna, said the new security arrangement was aimed at making communities to secure their domains, gather intelligence, build trust and ensure adequate security in the state.