Mutfwang:  Govs Pushing for State Police to Combat the Protracted Insecurity in Nigeria

•Says president already keying into idea

ChineduEze

Plateau State Governor, Caleb Mutfwang, has confirmed that about 90 per cent of the governors have been talking with President Bola Tinubu, and also using their representatives in the National Assembly to push for the passage of the bill for state police.

The governor said state police would be the solution to end the protracted insecurity ravaging the country, which his state has suffered from.

He made this known while fielding questions from journalists after signing Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the development of cargo facility at the Yakubu Gowon International Cargo Airport, Jos, with the Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Mrs. Olubunmi Kuku, in Lagos yesterday.

Mutfwang said he was strongly advocating state police because he knew that it would be the solution to the incessant insecurity, which has devastated his state, pushed farmers out of their farms and led to tragic bloodshed.

He also expressed optimism that many of his colleagues share similar view with him that the introduction of state police would significantly reduce the insecurity in Nigeria, adding that the governors had made their wishes known to the president who has shown understanding with them.

“As you know, I am one of the strongest advocates of state police and I keep advocating that one of the things we need to agree on as a nation is to decentralise security management that makes it more community-based.

“These are the strategies we are adopting and hopefully, gratefully, Mr. President is keying into this and I am sure that before long we are going to see a great improvement in the overall security situation.”

According to the Plateau State governor, the governors in support of state police had mobilised their National Assembly members to canvass for the passage of the state police bill.

He said, “The National Assembly is already at this. Our members are fully mobilised, our members in the National Assembly, not only Plateau State but across the country.

“Like you know, almost 90 per cent of the governors are behind this and so I believe that it won’t take long before this bill is passed and we will begin to work it out,” Mutfwang said.

He said despite the security threats in Plateau State, the state was growing into a business hub in northern Nigeria and there was boost in Nigerian and others, who visited the state, especially its capital, Jos, which had driven up room occupation in all the hotels in the city, an evidence that business is booming in the state.

“On the issue of bringing people to Plateau State, I want to tell you that before we came on board, there was a deliberate and orchestrated plan to demarcate Plateau State but I can tell you that we have gotten over that threshold.

“Today we have one of the highest hotel room occupation rates in the country and I would like you journalists to come and verify this and people are flocking into Plateau State at the moment.

“Yes, we have challenges, not anything extraordinary beyond what is happening in other countries and yet commercial activity is going on but in spite of that we are doing our best, we are investing in technology to be able to change the dynamics in terms of security management. We are also making sure that we upscale the local presence.”

On the MoU signed between FAAN and state, the governor said the agreement would galvanise stakeholders in his state into action to improve the volume of all the cash crops produced in his state for export using the new cargo facility that would be built at the airport.

“This event today gives us the impetus to be able to gather all the stakeholders and to know that the journey has begun. So, this is, like they say, the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.

“This is a very critical step we have taken this afternoon and I want to let you know that the stakeholders have been eagerly awaiting this development and so for us this is a very good start,” the governor said.