Msugh Ityokura, Dooyum Naadzenga, Abuja
A former governorship aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC in Benue state in the last general elections, Terlumun Ikya has called for a holistic approach in the fight against insecurity in the country
He also backed the position of the chief of defence staff, General Christopher Musa that Nigeria should fence her poroused borders with neighbouring countries where terrorists, bandits and other criminal agents enter to destabilize the nation.
Ikya, who is an Abuja based business man noted that Nigeria has been facing a multi faceted dimension of insecurity with the most disturbing being the issue of farmers and headers clashes especially in the middle belt
Speaking in an interview with journalists in Abuja, the business man cum politician said “We have the issues of insecurity I mean kidnappings, which some will attribute to bandits. We have the issues of communal clashes. It’s happening in quite a number of places, and we have so many issues. So the dimension is multifaceted. Now, what has this done? It has overstretched the security of Nigeria, especially the armed forces and the police.
“They are overstretched now on almost all fronts in Nigeria, you have a lot of challenges, whether it’s in the Northwest or in the North Central, where they may belong, on the southwest or in the southeast or even in the south, south. You asked about state police. I used to be vehemently against it because of the fear of abuse by the political class, but unfortunately, we have found ourselves in a situation where state police has become a necessity.
“Well, just like I said earlier on, the armed forces are over stretched. If you look at Nigeria, you would see that over 50% of Nigeria is not policed, no military presence, no police presence, no presence at all. Now for me, I think it’s very difficult for the federal government to achieve this, so it’s high time we get the state and local governments involved in policing Nigeria.
The APC chieftain maintained that he is not an advocate of state police alone, but an advocate of state police and cognitive policy
“we must approach this holistically. Now, I’m an advocate of what the chief of defense staff recently said about building a wall in Nigeria. I mean, at our borders. Now, I need to also give examples? If you look at countries like Pakistan, Pakistan has built a wall with Afghanistan, if you look at Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia with Iraq, these are places that are politically unstable
“Nigeria is also surrounded by a lot of countries that are unstable politically they are surrounded by countries that have history of food insecurity, which has spanned for so many decades and is still growing. And when we talk about the insecurity in Nigeria, we talk about terrorists coming from other countries to come and attack in Nigeria. So this must stop.
“I agree that we have an ECOWAS protocol that allows people to go from country to country without the necessary documentation. But does not mean that when you enter a country you are not accounted for. I mean if I take a flight to Ghana or any other country, even though I can enter without a visa, it doesn’t mean I’ve not been accounted for. I must be registered as entering that country.
“So when we build a wall, whoever is coming to Nigeria is registered. What you are coming with is registered. Where you are going is registered. That way, we can account for who is coming into Nigeria. I know that some people may look at it from a religious or ethnic dimension, but I think if that is done, we would have reduced the level of insecurity in the country greatly” he said
