Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, has identified parental negligence and the bastardisation of institutions as some of the cause of insecurity and criminality in Nigeria.

Delivering a keynote address at the Institute for Security Studies of the Department of State Security Services, on Tuesday, the governor lamented the abdication of parental responsibility among several Nigerian parents.

Governor Amosun, who spoke on the theme, “Institutional Weaknesses and Challenges of Development in Ogun State”, pointed out that “the challenges of development as it relates to weak institutions are perhaps most noticeable in the declining standard of our education and family values.”

He added: “Parents who no longer have time for their children leave the important assignment of parenting in the hands of teachers in the school who themselves are often either ill-equipped or are not genuinely committed to proper training of the children under their tutelage.

“In any case, many teachers have become foster parents. While the family unit, which is supposed to be the first school of socialisation is losing its significance in the nurturing of children.

“Character and values are now formed by peer groups; peer groups who in themselves form their habit through the internet, satellite television and social media; the new and very potent WMD – weapon of mass development or sadly, weapon of mass destruction.”

The governor told his audience which is made up of participants at the Executive Intelligence Management Course of the Institute that “Nigeria has a youthful population and this should be an incredible advantage. However, because they are mostly unemployed or under-employed, they are now channelling their energy into less-productive areas.”

In view of this development, Governor Amosun said: “The systems need to be revamped to take into consideration a wider range of educational development pursuits for our technology, artistic, vocational and other interesting areas that will engage our youths.”

The governor added: “We can confidently conclude today that the current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, has started to lay the foundation for that selfless leadership that our dear country desperately needs.”

He also seized the opportunity to inform his audience of some of the activities of his administration in the last five and a half years.

The governor said apart from agriculture and education, “another sector we focused on is…infrastructure. The existence of a good network of roads forms the bedrock on which accessibility and efficiency of other social amenities are built.”

Governor Amosun revealed that his administration “has rehabilitated, upgraded and widened over 100 existing roads totalling over 500km, opened new roads totalling 300km in length, and constructed new bridges and flyovers across the three senatorial districts of the state.”

He added that his administration, has also grew the internally generated revenue of the state from N750 million monthly to a peak of over N6 billion, adding: “Ogun State is now 2nd only to Lagos as the state with the highest IGR, when compared with the allocation from the Federal Government.”

The Ogun State Governor said: “It must be noted that as at the time we were assuming office in 2011, Ogun State was ranked as 35th position on the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business in Nigeria ranking. Three years after, our State ranked among the best four.”

According to the report, “Ogun, one of the lowest ranked overall performers in both 2008 and 2010, is one of the top reforming states in 2014.”

Governor Amosun added that “the state achieved the feat as a result of building good institutions which blocked leakages in the system. The Government did not increase the tax burden of the citizens, but we put in place a good framework to drive the revenue of the state.”

•Photo shows Governor Amosun.

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