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Insecurity: The Country Will Do Itself Good If We Jettison … – Na’ Allah

December 12, 2020

Worried by the rising insecurity in the country, Senate Deputy Leader and Senator representing Kebbi South District, Senator Bala Ibn Na’ Allah has called on the federal government to, as a matter of urgency, enhance the institutional capability of those who are charged with the responsibility of ensuring law and order, to see how to get the country out of the woods.

Na’ Allah who made this call on insecurity in his submission at the first Annual Security Dinner Night & Discourse organized by the National Association of Online Security Reporters (NAOSRE) held in Lagos on Friday , December 11,2020 regretted that all attempts to ensure that the Police get reformed over a long period of time has been rebuffed by people in leadership simply because the system worked for them and therefore, effort to have it remain within the circle of

becomes the work of the day.

He however noted that if Nigerian leaders work towards a system that works , whether they are in government or out of government, one would have seen that the quest to be in government would reduce and there will be little or no issue on insecurity.

Senator Na’Allah noted that no country in the world has witnessed the uniqueness of the insecurity that Nigeria was facing today adding that the development had more to do with the past misdeeds of the leaders.

“We never thought that our insecurity situation will get as bad as this. We were thinking that the people will continue to endure our excesses and I think that now, time has come that it is no more possible to rule the people based on deception.

“Take for example, cattle rustling; when you take these cattle, they are not consuming them. They are sending them somewhere. So, why can’t we come up with a committee that will regulate the sale and distribution of cattle? We can do it because you cannot carry cattle on your head from let’s say Abuja to Lagos or Kaduna to Imo or to any other place where they go to sell these cattle, they go by road in a trailer. So, it is not difficult to regulate this kind of thing.

“But you see there is no institutional commitment to do this kind of intervention and therefore, it is easy for cattle to be rustled, load them in a trailer and then deliver them in Lagos or elsewhere and sell them and make money and go.

“our control strategies are at variance completely with the intended intervention. It is really a bit difficult but I am beginning to think that with the level we reached now, it has dawned on everyone whether in government or out of government that there is the need to secure this country and that these need overrides any other need. And I hope that government will begin to look at the wisdom in trying to enhance the institutional capability of those who are charged with the responsibility of ensuring law and order to see how we can get out of where we are”, Na’Allah stated.

Senator Na’Allah who further observed that the Boko Haram issue had more to do with fundamentalism arising from lack of adequate knowledge about the religion of Islam itself, hence, they blame the incidences of kidnapping and banditry on the inability of the policies of government to help develop the northern part of the country economically over a period of time making insecurity the order of the day..

“Reason being that the creators of our constitution wanted us to develop evenly and that was why consideration was given to the population and then land mass as a way of creating local government so that the resources of the country can adequately be distributed in such a manner that the country grows evenly and then, then welfare of the citizens becomes a priority.

“But unfortunately, government became a little bit not in accordance with the constitution. Governors refused to allow local government to use their resources and everything was cornered within the state thus economically strangulating the local government which is the grassroots. And then, if you notice carefully, this issue of banditry actually arises from or occurs monthly in the rural areas and it has to do with cattle rustling and then kidnapping for money and insecuritysets in.

“I think that if we sit down and then soberly reflect on where we were and how we came to this place; insecurity is an issue that I believe can be easily reversed in the sense that first, let us grow our institutions. Secondly, let the rule of law rule; thirdly, let everyone who goes against the law of this country be made accountable irrespective of his religion or ethnic background. So, let us see the country as one country with laws that have the capacity to regulate the affairs of men. But the issue is that you and me know that that is not what we have today”, he said.

He however called on Nigerians to see the country as one with laws that had the capacity to regulate the affairs of men saying “you and me know that that is not what we have today.”

According to Na’Allah “The country will do itself good if we jettison politics and jettison everything and then go back to the root cause of where we were before and how we come to where are today, having insecurity issues to battle. Could it be prolong wrong policies of government that didn’t work out well? Could it be the breakdown of institutions that have the responsibility of ensuring lives and properties of citizens are secured? What other issues could have landed us to where we are?”