By Kenneth Onuoha
365Daily – Enugu Traditional Rulers’ Council has called for restructuring of Nigeria to end the spate of insecurity in the country.
The Chairman of the council, Igwe Lawrence Agubuzu, made the call while speaking at the ‘Big Idea Podium’ conference which held in over the weekend.
The conference was themed: “Trend and Dynamics of Armed Banditry: Making Sense of the Problem’’.
Agubuzu noted that restructuring in terms of giving Governors power to act on local security issues “remains the only way forward’’.
He said: “From all our discussion since morning, we, Nigerians, know we have a serious security challenge around us.
“We should focus on what to do as a people to solve it since everybody knows we have a problem.
“We might ask some people out there to help us; but the real solution to our present problem (security challenge) lies in restructuring of the country.
“Governors, who are chief custodians of security in states and localities, must be given power and resources to take charge of their states security-wise.
“If this is so, the whole country will not fall into security crises at the same time, as we have today,’’ he said.
The traditional ruler emphasised that various dimensions of insecurity are locality-based and it would take local concerted and coordinated effort to solve.
“Agreed, security is everybody’s business; but, however, security issues are localise in nature and best tackled locally,’’ he said.
In a virtual presentation, Mr Umar Ibrahim of Kano Electricity Distribution Company, gave in-depth information on how bandits had taken over most of the communities in the North Central part of the country.
Ibrahim, who spoke on the sub-topic: “Impact of Banditry on Communities, Human Life and Socio-economic Development’’, lamented: “You must pay tax to them to allow you engage in your livelihood.’’
“For us to carry out our DisCo activities in most areas, you must first make consultations with locals to guaranty your safety; if not, you might be attacked and no one will come to your rescue,’’ he revealed.
Dr Kingsley Udeh, Special Adviser to the Governor of Enugu State on Education, decried the spate of kidnapping and target of schools for terror activities, saying it is a great concern.
Udeh, who spoke on the sub-topic: “Impact of Banditry on Education and Human Capital Development’’, added: “The situation is already leading to the growing number of out of school children in the country.’’
“There should be multi-stakeholders’ involvement to revise the trend and get all our children in the country back to school,’’ he added.
The conference was organised by African Heritage Institution (Afri-Heritage) and the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR).