Addressing Funding Gaps, Partnering The President And Job Creation Will Help Address Security Challenges – Governor Hope Uzodimma

Governor Hope Uzodimma on Wednesday said that addressing the funding gaps among security agencies, being on the same page with the President and job creation will help address the security challenges in parts of the country.

The governor was speaking on Traditional and Non-Traditional Security Intervention, Early Conflict Identification, Prevention, Management and Resolution at the Day-2 of the 2023 induction for re-elected and elected governors with the theme: Governing for Impact (Building Sub-national Governance), organised by the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) at the Presidential Villa.

He said: “On the matter of security, governors should be on the same page with the President because he is the commander in chief.

“I want to agree with the governor of Anambra State, Professor Soludo. I want to add that security as it has to do with state governments, and the federal government should be defined very properly. First of all, our country, the Republic of Nigeria, is made up of 36 states.

“There’s no part of this country that does not belong to one state or the other inclusive of FCT and the commander in chief, who is the head of all the security agencies, Mr. President is responsible for the provision and management of security in the country.”

The governor added: “I took time to study various security challenges and the type that is prevalent in the south-east particularly Imo State where I come from, may not be the same thing as the kind of security challenges in Anambra State, up to Enugu State and Ebonyi.

“But the common problem I have been able to see is the funding gaps among the agencies. So in order not to waste our time on too much monitoring of the state governments, if we can tackle the funding gap that exists among these security agencies and fund them early enough, I think as a matter of fact, the idea of having a general without a troop will disappear because you know as we always say, who pays the piper dictates the tune.

“So in that case, you will forge a relationship between the various security agencies in the state.

“To properly solve the problem of operational challenge, funding alone is not enough, at least there will also be a connection between the federal government security architecture as he has just said, the kinetic approaches.

“The non-kinetic approach is allying with the traditional rulers and the diverse community, for quality intelligence gathering and making this information available to security agencies so they can deploy.

‘But what is remotely behind most of the challenges we see is unemployment and hunger. Just like he observed, between last year and this year, we have been able to pull out over 200,000 young men and women from the unemployment market through our skill-up programme for the digital economy. So if we can employ our young boys and girls and sometimes they become employers of labour, they will be busy and when they are busy they will add value to society.

“So there’s a need for a constructive partnership and operational relationship between the federal government, sub-national and local authorities. As long as we’re able to forge this relationship, I’m very sure that the current insecurity will disappear.

“I am also aware that given the economy and resources available to the states, it may not be very easy now for some states to fund the cost of setting up an independent security architecture that will be effective and efficient in their various states. Rather, an interdependent relationship between the federal establishment and provincial authorities will also work.

“Also, I believe our understanding of the country is also very central. As long as you know that as a Nigerian, the failures of our country are also your failures, the successes of our country are your successes, I think we will also have to repair the sight of our brothers out there.

“So, I agree with the presenter that kinetic and non-kinetic approaches may be important, but a proactive approach is also important.

“Preventive mode of operation, making sure that those things that you know will cause security challenges in the nearest future are dealt with and among these are unemployment, hunger and allowing our young boys and girls to roam the street without anything doing.

“On that note, as we think about how to strengthen security architecture in the country, our economic managers should also rise to the occasion.”

Collins Ughalaa
Special Adviser (Public Communications) to the Governor.