In the last three years of his assumption of office as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, there is no gainsaying that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has done credibly well for our nation, especially with those bold initiatives and reforms he has undertaken.
Those were daring decisions that past presidents before him dared not to confront, even when they knew such issues were clogs in the wheels of the nation.
Despite his modest achievements within the short period he has been in office, his adversaries are bent on discrediting him. The security challenge, which has a political undertone, remains one of their tools for disparaging the president’s success.
Instead of gloating over the security situation in the country, it is rather expedient that we all should come up with ideas on how to nip the menace in the bud.
I, therefore, wish to offer the following suggestions to the President:
Creation of urgent regional combatant command forces in all six geopolitical zones of Nigeria. The combatant team should comprise the military, police, DSS, and local vigilantes, to be headed by a brigadier General or its equivalent in every zone.
Each combatant force should be composed of people from the geopolitical zone. The idea is for the combatant command forces to halt and flush out the kidnapping, banditry and terrorism tendencies across the regions. With so many operations going on simultaneously, these evil people will become unstable, and many will be caught and killed in the process.
Encourage whistleblowing operations with adequate monetary compensation for notifying the authorities of any potential kidnappers, bandits or terrorists and their supporters/financiers.
Increase surveillance and security patrols on highways and all the roads in the hinterlands, and deploy local vigilantes, hunters and forest guards into the forests. These people should be on government payrolls, with adequate compensation to their families for injuries and deaths during the operation.
Mass recruitment into the military, police, and other security agencies, with the mandate to flush out every security threat.
Rather than establishing state police, we should create more police stations, recruit more mobile policemen and forest guards, provide the police with more patrol motorcycles, cars, vans, communication gadgets and weapons to help their operations.
At least three functional helicopters should be stationed in each geopolitical zone. The federal government should be deducting a certain amount of money from the security votes to the states to fund the security operations across the country.
Increase and improve emolument packages for the military, police and other security agencies as done for the judicial officers. In fact, it is a big security risk for the police, the military and other security men and women to be using their own monies to buy their uniforms and gadgets, including fueling the operational vehicles with their own monies.
Sometimes in 1980, when Nigeria was in an economic downturn, our late sage and the leader of the Yoruba race then, Chief Obafemi Awolowo wrote the then President of Nigeria, President Shehu Shagari about the states of the nation, and he advised the late President Shagari to wake-up and save the nation from calamities, yet, President Shagari did not heed to wise counsel of Chief Awolowo, this led to the truncation of the second republic.
It is important that you, as the chief helmsman of the nation, rise urgently to the occasion to change the narratives to prevent the repeat of the 1983 occurrence.
Your Excellency could deploy six ministers to the geo-political zones, as regional ministers of states, to provide administrative and logistics support to the combatant command’s forces.
These regional ministers should also coordinate economic activities with both the states and local governments based on peculiar opportunities available to each region.
There is an urgent need to stimulate our communities through the local governments with direct labour jobs, security guards, etc for those who are jobless. The idea is to positively engage and reorientate Nigerians to provide them a form of succour and to increase security in our communities. This will go a long way in increasing the popularity of our party in the 2027 general elections.
To reduce the present economic hardship in the country, it will be in the interest of our party and the Yoruba race’s integrity for the President to find a way to bring the pump price of petrol down to about N600 per litre.
I think this could be achieved by cutting down the price of crude oil supplies for domestic consumption to Dangote refineries.
Akinwande is a former chairmanship aspirant, Yewa North Local Government, Ayetoro, Ogun West, Ogun State.
