The governors in the south-western states of Nigeria comprising of Lagos Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti recently announced that the region would commence its own regional policing programme in October 2019. This comes in the wake of heightened security challenges in the region. The development as announced by these governors is commendable and a ray of hope that the government still have the interest of the governed at heart.
The various security challenges bedeviling Nigeria has dangerously taken another dimension and tilted towards ethnic suspicion and clashes. Due to the recurrent clashes between farmers and pastoralists, that have spread from the north-central to the southern part of the country, the governors are left with no option than to find a way out before it gets out of control.
The security outfit called Western Nigeria security Network (WNSN) will be funded by the states in the region. According to the governors, patrol vans have been purchased for the commencement of the operations of the outfit in October 2019.
The security outfit which will include members of the Odua Peoples Congress (OPC) and local hunters will have a team that will coordinate intelligence gathering.
There is no double in the fact that the southwest is having its own share of the insecurity bedeviling the country presently. The murder of Funke Olakunrin, the daughter of Pa Reuben Fasoranti, an Afenifere leader in Ondo state, the Abduction of Yinka Adegbehingbe, a Professor at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) and the recent Kidnap of five pastors are some of the cases of insecurity that have ravaged the southwest in recent times not to mention the various banditry of suspected herdsmen in villages in the South-West.
We commend the efforts of the southwest governors in blazing the trail with this development, and we advise that governors of other zones to emulate this and tackle the security challenge facing the regions.
With this development Nigerians can justify the yet-to-be- disclose security vote these governors claim every month.
We also note of the efforts of the Governor of Zamfara state, Bello Matawalle to end banditry and cattle rustling in the state. Should governors across the country engage in proactive efforts like these, citizens would invest more trust in the governance system.
Meanwhile the partial security autonomy granted to the South-West geo-political zone for security should be emulated by other zones to counter similar challenges in those regions. If well managed and successful, the establishment of the WNSN may serve as the basis to test-run state policing system. Since President Muhammadu Buhari has also announced that the Nigeria Police would be overhauled, we called on the government to also consider the report of the committee set up to investigate the activities of Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) which recommended state policing.
Should we advance to this stage, the country can then beat it chest as a country with true federalism. We hope that the National Assembly would build on the success of the WNSN experimentation and devolve more responsibilities to region to take care of other critical responsibilities like resources control.
We therefore call on the security agencies to cooperate with the WNSN in securing lives and properties of Nigerians.
