THE Nigeria Governors Forum, NGF, on Friday said that it had not taken a common position on the establishment of State Police in the country.
Chairman of the NGF, and Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi stated this while briefing State House correspondents after the expanded security meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari and Security heads at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Fayemi backed by six other governors from the six geo-political zones said that while some governors were advocating for State police because of the peculiar security challenges facing their states others didn’t deem it necessary because of the financial implications.
He said that the NGF will take a holistic view of the involvement and come out with a position on it. He also stated that the $1 billion approved from the Excess Crude Account to fight insecurity had been disbursed among the security agencies, though he said it was not enough to tackle the security challenges.
The NGF boss who said the meeting was on the instance of the governors said it dwelt primarily on insecurity ranging from kidnapping, armed robbery, insurgency, militancy among others.
Fayemi said there will be a special meeting of National Economic Council, NEC, which is chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to take position on the myriads of security problems in order to give confidence to the citizenry. Explaining on the essence of the meeting, he said, “The meeting was at our instance as governors of the 36 states collectively.
It has to do with the security situation in the country, our concerns about what is going on all across the nation. “We had a very fruitful meeting with Mr. President. Of course, he was not oblivious of the challenges, he gets security reports on daily basis, he understands what the issues are.
“But we felt as chief security officers in our respective states, it is also important for us to at least keep Mr. President abreast of the enormity or the challenges we are facing and also highlight the concerns of our citizens across the board about rural banditry, farmers/herders clashes, Kidnapping, militancy in the Delta, insurgency, and cultism.
“So we discussed extensively all of these issues and looked at the various ways that we felt as governors we could assist Mr. President as the Commander-in-Chief to curb these issues. Of course, we were able to in the first instance look at the nexus between our economic challenges and the security challenges as well. And the importance of tackling the causes of crime not just crime on its own.”