The Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje has called for an urgent overhaul of the nation’s security outfits to reposition them for effectiveness.
According to Ganduje, Nigeria is facing a lot of security challenges at the moment and except strategies are galvanized, it will be difficult to overcome such challenges.
He listed some of the challenges to include terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, drug trafficking, cybercrime, robbery, weapon proliferation, human trafficking, communal clashes, hate speeches, and others.
The Governor also identified poverty and unemployment as some of the factors responsible for insecurity in Nigeria.
He, therefore, recommended the modernization of security outfits and collaboration with legislative and judicial institutions as some of the solutions to the security challenges.
Naija News understands the Kano State Governor made the submissions on Friday at the 2022 alumni lecture of the University of Ibadan.
The title of his lecture was ‘Challenges of Insecurity and Nation Building.’
In his lecture, Ganduje said: “Nigeria faces a range of security challenges including, terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, drug trafficking, cybercrime, robbery, weapon proliferation, human trafficking, communal clashes, ethnic nationalism, militancy, manipulation of social media, hate speeches, economic and financial crimes, subversive activities, herdsmen-farmer clashes, piracy, among others,” he said.
“Therefore, efforts to tackle insecurity can only be effective if there is a robust combination of legislative and judicial interventions with government reforms that address some of the acute human security challenges confronting a vast majority of the population.
“The formulation and effective implementation of policies and programmes capable of addressing the root causes of insecurity in Nigeria is crucial, especially with regard to poverty, unemployment, environmental degradation, injustice, corruption, porous borders, and small arms proliferation.
“There is also the need to modernize security agencies with training, intelligence sharing, advanced technology, logistics, motivation, and change of orientation.
“There should be a complete overhaul of the security institutions in the country to reflect international standards of best practices, so as to pre-empt these security breaches, in particular, the failure of the intelligence services to contain the recurring security breaches.
“There should be an institutionalized approach, rather than the episodic and reactive response adopted by the government in the aftermath of attacks.”
Ganduje also said security agencies and agents must be bold, fair, and just in dealing with issues of insecurity.
“In Nigeria, cases that border on insecurity have most often been compromised. Thus, the law is no longer acting as a deterrent,” he added.
“Our law enforcement agencies must, therefore, be incorruptible and fair. To ensure all these, there must be incentives, good conditions of service and social security.”
Earlier, Ganduje had attended the coronation of the Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Lekan Balogun on that same Friday.
This article was originally published on Nigeria News