• Friday, March 29, 2024
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Kwara mulls Amotekun, conducts security summit to collate people’s views

Amotekun: Iseyin Community Hails Appointment of Togun

Going by the current regional efforts, especially the South West region on decentralised security network, stakeholders in Kwara State and other states within the North Central region, last week converged on Ilorin for security dialogue to concretize efforts towards securing and hastening socio-economic development in the region.

Speaking at the one-day multi-stakeholders dialogue with the theme “Towards Strengthen Security Architecture in Kwara State: Exploring Community Initiative,” Hassan Salihu, a professor of Political Science with the University of Ilorin, and Dakas Dakas, a professor from University of Jos, both keynote speakers, called on state governments to develop a blueprint for security in their states.

They pointed out that Kwara State was peaceful but must be proactive to respond to security threats within and outside the state and work on early warning signs bordering on insecurity, saying there must be adequate funding of security agents to combat crimes and criminality.

While Salihu called on the public to see security as everybody’s business and all hands must be on deck, Dakas called for a regime of accountability, respect for rules of engagement, and more support for the security agencies

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Salihu suggested that politicians must learn to draw the line between politics, campaign period and governance, calling on all stakeholders to sidestep their differences and build a sustainable system that works for all, but Dakas advocated more capacity building for the security agencies, funding and other personnel of government in charge of security matters.

Responding, Governor AbdulRahman Abdulrazaq of Kwara State, posited that social inclusion, youths empowerment, and timely administration of justice were key to fostering peace and development in any society, pledging that more fund would be disbursed and logistics given to security agencies to combat any forms of insecurity in the state and beyond.

“We will definitely continue to give the necessary and complementary logistic support to our security agencies. However, we believe that security is a broad concept that goes beyond arming the various security agencies or hanging cameras everywhere.

“We feel strongly that securing our society requires inclusion and empowerment of all the segments of our society. It involves guaranteeing social justice for everyone. It involves ensuring that no child is left behind in every developmental agenda. And it involves making sure that the justice system is not unduly slow or deliberately tilted against anyone.

“Hunger and poverty are catalysts for crimes and they must be addressed headlong,” he said.

Also, the security chiefs in the state equally applauded the dialogue initiative, as they admonished the masses to always speak up when they see danger signs around them.

Steve Ajege of Directorate of State Security Service noted that the dialogue underpinned Abdulrazaq’s effort to further secure the state and enjoined parents to revisit the issue of family value and discipline and work with security agencies to cut the crime rate in the society.

Police commissioner, Kayode Egbetokun said community policing was underway and called for support for the initiative, saying that would rely heavily on local personnel and intelligence gathering.

Other security agencies spoke in similar patterns, with the NDLEA encouraging parents to pay attention to the activities of their children, lamenting on the rising rate of drug abuse.