Osinbajo: FG Will End SARS’ Attrocities

Omololu Ogunmade in Abuja

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo Wednesday in Ibadan pledged that the federal government would end the many alleged atrocities being perpetrated by operatives of the Special Anti-robbery Squad (SARS).

Osinbajo, according to a statement by his spokesman, Mr. Laolu Akande, last night made the promise while fielding questions from young Nigerians at a town hall meeting held on the side-line of the launch of the National Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Clinics in Ibadan.

According to the statement, Osinbajo said the federal government’s commitment to addressing the concerns raised about SARS’ operations was reflected in President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive for an immediate review and restructuring of the unit.

He was quoted as saying: “Many people are complaining about the atrocities of SARS, people are saying there should be no more SARS. SARS as you know is anti-robbery squad but several members of the squad have gone rogue and are doing things that are contrary to the very reasons for which they were set up.

“But it is not enough to just say, ‘end SARS’. You know it is an anti-robbery squad. What we need to end is to deal with the atrocities of SARS, we want to end everything that is wrong that they are doing and we must always have in place, a force that is able to protect us against robbery, kidnapping and other crimes.

“The president has already ordered a review of the formation of SARS so that very soon, we would be able to have a responsible SARS.”

The statement also said the vice-president spoke on measures being put in place to address the power crisis confronting Nigeria, explaining that “we have a systematic approach to the power solution in the country, but the approach to the power solution in the country, is not to rely on the regular power supply.”

He was further quoted as saying: “We have increased our power generation capacity from about 3000 megawatts since 2015 to about 7000 mega watts. The current situation with power is that it has been privatised and the privatisation was not done properly.”

“The responsibility has fallen on the federal government, and we are doing just that but the approach is not to rely on the regular power supply. We don’t want to have all our power come from the same sources that is why we are trying to decentralise power generation and distribution in Nigeria.

“We have also created the Eligible Customer Declaration which means that industrial hubs or estates can buy their own power so we don’t have to rely on the grid. So, there are now companies that are licenced to provide power to estates, to provide power for industries on willing-buyer, willing-seller basis.”