By Johnson Eyiangho, Abuja

Director-General of the Nigerian Army Resource Centre, Maj.-Gen. Garba Wahab (rtd.) has said that state governors must give local governments free hand to function in the efforts to tackle insecurity across the country.

Wahab said that to get everyone involved in the security challenges facing the nation, there is need to go towards the grassroots – the local governments, where majority of the people reside and know themselves in order to get it right.

The director-general of the Army Resource Centre gave the suggestion at the weekend while delivering a paper on “Security is a Collective Responsibility” at the 44th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Alumni Association of the National Institute (AANI), National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPPS), Jos.

Wahab, who  was the guest speak at the event said, “The governors should and must allow local governments to function and perform effectively. If that is done, it becomes easier for us to get to the root of the problem (insecurity). And you cannot do that without the traditional institutions because they command so much respect within their localities.”

He noted that the traditional rulers were not assigned function in the 1999 Constitution as amended “based on the fact that they had been used by the colonial masters”, adding “even now there are allegations that they are being used by politicians but we cannot continue to live like that”.

Wahab said the natural rulers should be part of the security architecture but called for “structure” to be put in place “to monitor and punish those who do not perform”, adding that with such measure, things would take shape “because you can’t ask somebody to be part of the security architecture and is not secured.

“If he (traditional ruler) does not have the believe that if something goes wrong, the person responsible will be punished. Nobody  will be interested, so, we must take steps that will make sure that everybody is involved in security which is a collective responsibility.”

On the role of good governance in addressing insecurity, Wahab said, “Yes, everybody talked about good governance, but what do I mean, let everybody be given equal opportunity. And those who are there should use their offices to provide infrastructure.

“If there are  infrastructure then it becomes easier to ask people to remain where they are, rather than everybody flocking to the city centers. Because if they do, there is believe that by 2050,  more than 60% of Nigerians will be living in the urban centres and that will create more criminal activities in those areas.

“Of course the remote areas will be deserted, so we must prevent a situation where remote rural areas are deserted and the centres becomes criminal havens.”

Earlier, while declaring the AGM open, Amb. Emmanuel Okafor, the President of AANI, said that the association believe that change of attitude and efforts required to rescue Nigeria from the current security challenges was a collective responsibility that require broad-based commitment and consistent implementation of comprehensive national development plans.

Okafor noted that Nigeria is facing “a very difficult time” with the twin challenges of insecurity and economic difficulties which has slowed down activities in all sectors of the economy.

The AANI president said the difficulties had created social tension including street protests and looting of food items, saying that to restore normalcy, AANI was partnering with various stakeholders to promote good governance and sustainable development in line with its overall objective of working towards a better society.

“In this regard, AANI partnered with the Center for Transparency and Integrity Watch to host an ‘International Symposium on Countering Organised Crime in Africa: Building Resilient Institutions to counter Emerging Threats.

“We are also currently working with the Ministry of Defense to hold security sensitization seminars in all the geo-political zones of the federation. We have already developed a concept note and on the verge of signing an MOU with the Defense Headquarters for the Implementation of the project,” the AANI president said.