By Deji Elumoye
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has called on Nigerians to resist any attempt to divide the nation saying Nigeria is better as one indivisible entity.
He also called for the strengthening of community policing structures which he said will result in improved security situation across the country.
Osinbajo who made this known on Tuesday while revalidating his membership of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ikenne ward one in Ogun state declared “we must resist any attempt to destroy the unity of this country, our people have lived and worked together for decades, even centuries.”
He added: “While we must attend to the cries of communities, and the cries of our people for justice, equity and fairness, we can do so within this same union. Ultimately we are stronger together than apart.”
Osinbajo, in a statement on Tuesday evening by his media assistant, Laolu Akande, stressed that
despite the security challenges, the values of justice, equity and fairness across communities nationwide can be addressed within the Nigerian union.
He urged Nigerians to “resist any attempts to destroy the unity of this country”, adding that, “Our people have lived and worked together for decades.”
Commenting on efforts of the Buhari administration to tackle the country’s security challenges, Osinbajo noted that greater emphasis is being placed on technology for surveillance, intelligence gathering and attack.
He explained that with the appointment of new Service Chiefs, the nation’s security approach had “fresh set of eyes, intellect and skills and a fresh look at strategies against the insurgency in the North East, as well as banditry and kidnapping elsewhere.”
The VP also said states should formalize their local security structures and called for stronger collaboration between the security agencies and Justice ministries to help improve security nationwide.
His words: “We must speed up and strengthen the community policing structures, States must continually train, educate and formalize their local security structures so that they complement the Federal law enforcement agencies. Policing must be a collective effort, from the Local Government to the State Government, and all the way up to the Federal Government.
“We must ensure the prosecution of all those who have been arrested for kidnapping, banditry. There must be evidence that justice is being done. This is achievable by stronger collaboration between the police, States Ministries of Justice and the Federal Ministry of Justice.
“We are in government at one of the most challenging times in history. The pandemic has not helped matters, and we also have had security challenges that have stretched our law enforcement capacities all over the country. But we remain the best party to solve these problems.”
Osinbajo added that the Social Investment Programmes (SIPs) and Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP) were proof of the Buhari administration’s focus on the welfare of Nigerians.
He said, “Because of our grassroots orientation, we have and continue to put in place the best programmes for the welfare of our people. Our focus on jobs for our young people is a resolute commitment of our party. Aside from the various microcredit schemes, Payroll support scheme (under the MSME Survival Fund), we have the N-Power (under the SIPs), and now the 774,000 jobs programme and N75 billion Youth Fund. We also have a mass housing scheme, mass agriculture scheme, and solar home systems for five million homes (under the ESP). All of these things are programmes and policies of a progressive party.
“The people are the party and the party is the people. Ours is a grassroots party; a party of the people. Our focus is on the welfare, prosperity and well-being of all our people. Party members must understand their importance in the scheme of things. They must fully understand party’s philosophy and programmes; they must be actively mobilized to participate in, propagate and support government policies and programmes.”
