I no longer have confidence in Nigeria’s security forces – Niger governor, Bello

Governor Abubakar Bello of Niger State has stated he no longer has confidence in Nigeria’s security agencies.

He, therefore, proposed that traditional rulers should be given security votes to help in curtailing the increasing rate of crime in the country.

According to him, “Despite the huge amounts voted and given to security agencies monthly, they have failed in making the state and nation safer as crime seems to have become the order of the day.”

He opined that if N100m was given to traditional rulers monthly, the nation would fare better in the aspect of security.

“I suggest that we go back to the traditional ways of securing our communities, the traditional system performed better in the past and they can do better now if more powers are given to them. I recommend that we give powers to traditional rulers for security.

“We spend a lot of money on security but we do not have a safe environment. In Niger State, we spend N100m every month on security, I am sure that if we spend a fraction of that money on traditional rulers, we will get better results than what we have now”, he added.

The governor stated this when the Niger Council of Traditional Rulers led by the Etsu Nupe, Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar, paid him a sallah visit at the Government House, Minna,

He added that the state needed a lot of prayers as all efforts to combat the new wave of crime seemed not to be working, stressing that he had lost confidence in security agencies.

“We need a lot of prayers in Niger State. We are faced with a new kind of security challenges that are unusual.

“There is a new wave of kidnapping, murder, armed robbery and clashes. It is a new wave that seems to be engulfing the state. People have decided to take the laws into their own hands and kill because they have conflict with others.

“We are beginning to lose it as a people and as a state. In the past, nobody got away with murder, kidnapping or other crimes but these days, kidnappers and other criminals walk the streets freely. As a governor, I am becoming afraid because I do not know who to trust or who to talk to,” he said.