The Anambra State Governor, Charles Soludo and his Imo State counterpart, Hope Uzordinma have disagreed on state police, but agreed on the dysfunctional nature of the national security architecture.

They both spoke at the session on Traditional and Non-Traditional Security Intervention, Early Conflict Identification, Prevention, Management and Resolution on day two of the 2023 induction for re-elected and elected governors with the theme: Governing for Impact (Building Sub-national Governance), organized by the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) at the presidential Villa.

While Soludo noted that even though the governors bear the responsibility of funding security agencies in their domain, they have no control over their operations, referring to the state executives as generals without troops, welcoming the decision by President-Elect Bola Tinubu to support state police.

Uzodinma on his part said, considering the current economic realities, some states will not be able to fully fund their security architecture, calling instead for cooperation between the federal and subnational authorities, saying governors must be on the same page as the commander-in-chief.

Soludo, who lamented the disproportionate burden placed on state governments while lacking the necessary resources to combat the rising insecurity, stressed the need for local authorities to address the rising insecurity in the country.

The governor who said security issues are localized, stated that “Every locality has its own peculiarities and the most fundamental issue, I think for those of us who are governors, and the governors-elect, a major concern that we need to get onto is the national security architecture and the moderator aptly pointed that out, places much of the kinetic architecture almost exclusively on the shoulders of the federal government, and whereas the states are called upon as chief security officers, but you aptly call us generals without troops, and therefore, state governors have to…I mean, what we’ll be discussing from the point of view of these places are coping mechanisms.”

Soludo asked, “How do we cope, how do cope to survive in a dysfunctional system because the architecture is dysfunctional? And it is such an architecture that the problems we face are very local, requiring our local actions, but the instrument is out there.

“The other thing is funding in the whole architecture, the federal government, which has a near monopoly of these agencies, cannot fund them. And then they have to foist on the states again, to be the ones to provide the funding but which is also not very accountable system,” he added.

Speaking on his administration’s intervention in the state, he said: “For me, I’m just a one year old baby on the job. Before I assumed office, it was so clear to me about the nature of the dysfunctionality, but how we must cope to survive.”

He said that the best way out is, “We got to revive and recreate our own state Strike Force vigilante service, which had become awesome in terms of their work and then set up approaches to the non-kinetic approaches by calling on all those in the bush. Because when I assumed office, eight local governments in Anambra were totally under siege taken over by these hoodlums in the bushes, criminals, kidnappers and so on masquerading under the guise of agitation and all of that.

“And part of what we had to do very decisively with a multilateral approach was to challenge the thesis, the main argument that was fueling people hiding under this agitation to commit all kinds of criminality, we have to call them out as plain criminals, kidnappers who are kidnapping for ransom. And until that was called out, you can’t solve a problem you haven’t identified.

“We set up what we’ll call the truth, justice, and peace Commission, which has submitted an interim report comprising a lot of people who are knowledgeable, headed by the former chairman of human rights and permission in the country. I submitted an interim report which we’re already implemented, we set up an agency for missing persons and all of that, and in addition to that have been hundreds of these our persons, equipped, trained and mobilizing the citizens to the common good of security, that security is everybody’s responsibility.

“We had even security trust fund to which mobilize the masses and well meaning individuals donating very massively to it. We lunched operation getting everybody involved. I mean if you see something say something, we have hotlines that citizens can call and provide us with intel. And the intelligence that we gather I must tell you, at least I will say that at least 25, 30% of the intel we gather from those hotline numbers, six of them are actionable. And they have been very, very helpful,” Soludo stated.

In his own intervention, Uzodinma while supporting Soludo’s submission, however, advised that on matter or security, governors should be on the same page with the President because he is the commander in chief.

He said: “I want to agree with the governor of Anambra State, Professor Soludo. I really want to add that security as it has to do with state governments and federal governments 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.”

He called for the reorientation of citizens to note that they share in the successes or failure of the federal government security architecture.

Uzodinma said, “I took time to study various security challenges and the type that is prevalent in south east particularly Imo State where I come from, may not be exactly 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 being able your complain…there will also be a connection between the federal government security architecture like he has just said, the kinetic approaches.

“The non-kinetic approaches is forming alliance with the traditional rulers and the diverse community of quality intelligence gathering and the. 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 to pull out over 200,000 young men and women from the unemployment market through our skilled up Programme of 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 the society.

“So there’s really 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 am very sure that the current insecurity will disappear.

“I am also aware that given the economy and sources 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 inter-dependent 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 is your own successs, 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 approach may be important but proactive approach is also important.

“Preventive mode of operation, making sure that those things that you know that will cause security challenge 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,” he added.

The National Security Adviser, General Mohammed Munuguno (the Director General of the Department of State Security (DSS) Bichi Mogaji and the Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba Alkali yesterday gave security advisory to the new governors.

The NSA, represented by Joseph Dahwuep, appealed to the incoming governors to adopt good governance as a policy as part of the security issues in the states are the fallout of some of the policies from the states.

He further advised that they form an inclusive cabinet and not stereotype any group as opposition to their administration.

According to the NSA, “Elections are over this is the time for good governance. Please endeavour to ensure an inclusive government to enable you to have good governance at the state levels”

The NSA added, “Nigeria is not an exception to the insecurity. Insecurity is a global item now. Security includes good governance and the human rights of all. Security includes reducing poverty and unemployment at the state level. Without security, there won’t be security.”

In giving an overview of the security situations, the NSA said to tackle insecurity involves both kinetic and not kinetic measures, and advised that it is easier to manage insecurity when they listen to early warning signs from stakeholders.

He urged them to identify the stakeholders in their respective states and make adequate use of them while encouraging a feedback mechanism that keeps them abreast of developments in their states.

On conflict management and resolution, the NSA urged the governors to always use intelligence reports and management early warnings sent to them daily.

The NSA further told the incoming governors to bear in mind that crimes and criminal activities have been digitized hence the need to develop a system that works for all.

In his advisory, the Director General of the DSS represented by Tier Mohammed urged the incoming governors to always work on early warnings and endeavour to go through reports presented to them by their special aides.

He recalled how a governor in 2003 lost Re-election because he failed to go through security reports on scarcity of water and its implications and his opponent saw the report and used the report to his advantage and provided water to the community which led to his election instead.

He also urged the governors to listen to traditional rulers and informants, asking them to pay attention to strangers who infiltrate communities in their states and find out who they are.

The DSS boss said that kinetic force was not the best, urging the governors to make use of dialogue to avert crisis, appealing to them to always be accessible to all citizens.

The Inspector General of Police represented by an Assistant Inspector General of Police, Bala Ciroma called on the governors to endeavour to reduce poverty and unemployment as an angry man is a hungry man.

The Police boss urged them to be technologically savvy as criminals now use telephones and other technological equipment in their dangerous trade. (Daily Independent)

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