— Says Tinubu deserves second term
By Johnbosco Agbakwuru
ABUJA — The Managing Director of the Federal Housing Authority and convener of the South West Agenda for Asiwaju (SWAGA), Hon. Oyetunde Ojo, has called for the immediate establishment of state police across the country, describing it as the panacea for tackling the worsening security situation.
Ojo also urged Nigerians to re-elect President Bola Tinubu in 2027, arguing that the administration’s push for state policing and major infrastructure projects are central to addressing the country’s deepening insecurity.
Speaking during a live media chat in Abuja, Ojo said Nigeria’s current security crisis shows why the long-debated move to state police is now urgent.
He recalled backing the measure as a member of the House of Representatives (2011–2015) and said partisan politics then blocked what should have been a nationwide reform.
“We saw the dangers coming from the Sahel region and the growing instability in Libya, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger. Some of us believed state police were necessary because of the nature of our borders and emerging security threats, but politics got in the way,” he said.
“We warned years ago that our porous borders and the instability in the Sahel would demand localized security responses,” Ojo said. “State police would have insulated many communities from the threat we now face. Politics stood in the way — not sound security thinking.”
Ojo pointed to Lagos as proof of the model’s effectiveness, noting the state’s Rapid Response Squad, Security Trust Fund and coordinated investments in equipment drastically reduced violent crime under Tinubu’s governorship.
“Lagos showed decentralised security works. The National Assembly should finish the constitutional process and states must back it now,” he said.
Beyond legislation, Ojo emphasised the need for technology and intelligence to buttress security efforts.
He urged Nigerian innovators to produce domestic drone and surveillance systems to support military and police operations along extensive, porous borders.
“Intelligence, aerial surveillance and locally built tech will be decisive in stopping cross-border criminality,” he said.
Linking security to infrastructure, Ojo argued that durable roads and logistics networks are also strategic crime-fighting tools.
He highlighted ongoing reconstruction on crucial corridors — Abuja-Makurdi-Otukpo-Enugu, Kaduna-Kano, and the Lagos–Ibadan expressway — as evidence of the administration’s long-term vision.
“These are not cosmetic repairs. They are reinforced concrete pavements built to last for decades,” Ojo said. “Better roads improve military mobility, commerce and state presence — all of which reduce the spaces where criminals thrive.”
Ojo also credited the Tinubu administration with stabilising tertiary education, ending prolonged nationwide university closures, and advancing economic reforms that have begun to attract investor confidence.
“There has not been a prolonged nationwide university shutdown under this administration. Students are completing their programmes on schedule and parents have greater certainty about their children’s education,” he said.
On power, he defended the Electricity Act as a structural reform that allows states to generate and distribute electricity — a change that will take time but promises private investment and competition.
Acknowledging inherited problems, Ojo said Tinubu has laid the foundations for lasting solutions. “The president inherited decades of structural deficits. He is taking difficult decisions to fix them. Nigerians should judge the progress in security and infrastructure when they vote in 2027,” he said.
Ojo urged swift legislative action on state policing and greater collaboration between federal and state governments, arguing that combining decentralised policing, targeted infrastructure and modern surveillance will be Nigeria’s best defence against rising insecurity.
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Source: vanguardngr.com