Following the incessant killings and destruction of property across the country and the recent killing of a Catholic priest in Taraba State, the wife of the Bishop of Lagos West, Church of Nigeria, Angelical Communion, Lydia Odedeji, has supported the calls for state police as part of the solutions to address the lingering insecurity in Nigeria.
Odedeji stated this at the 20th Annual Women’s Conference of the Diocese of Lagos West held recently in Lagos, at the Caroline AdefiolaAdeboyi Memorial Women Conference Centre, Ipaja, Lagos, while calling on the Federal Government to reconsider the recommendation of the 2014 National Conference on state police.
“The Boko Haram insurgency in the North East is still with us. The Fulani herders and farmers’ clashes in the middle belt and other areas still persist,” said Odedeji, stating that it is sad that Nigeria is listed as the fifth dangerous countries to live in.
According to Odedeji, banditry is all over states like Kaduna, Zamfara, Sokoto, Kastina and Niger, while states in the southern part of the country that have hitherto been peaceful have witnessed unbelievable spate of killings and banditry by gunmen. She however, opined that this has compounded the situations in some of the southern states with cases of armed robbery,kidnapping and ritual killings.
She pointed out that although the crime so listed are the ones under the purview of the Nigeria Police, from all indications, the Nigeria Police have not been able to cope; hence, the need to drag the military into the issues of internal affairs. “…the involvement of the army and navy coming to complement the efforts of the police is commendable because crime is still on the increase across the country”.
The wife of the Lagos West Bishop also used the occasion to solicit for international support to help in tackling the power sector challenges in Nigeria. “The informal sector, comprising mainly the artisans and technicians who can as well drive the economy with their low and medium capacity productivity, have jumped into strange profession such as Okada riding, street hawking due to inability to source and maintain alternative power like generator,”Odedeji stated.
She stressed that the power sector is critical to Nigeria’s economy as many known viable industries have had to relocate to Ghana and some other African nations with steady power supply.
