Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has called on the Federal Government to properly equip the police and other security agencies with modern equipment to fight the new security challenges facing the nation.
Oshiomhole made the call today during a courtesy visit of students of Course 34 of the Command and Staff College, Jaji, to him at the Government House, Benin City.
According to him: “Tthough the Federal Government collects the lion share of 52.6 per cent of the Federation Account, we expect that the Federal Government should fund the security agencies adequately.
“Because even if I am not a security man, I know that these days you need the right type of technology, and with the right technology, you need less manual effort and less guess work.
“These tools require resources and my impression is that the Federal Government is not funding the police and SSS adequately to enable them have gadgets and instruments they need to enable them fight crime.”
Arising from this, the Governor said: “Edo State government has had to spend part of its meagre resources to complement the efforts of the Federal Government to combat crime in the State.”
He added: “Since assuming office, we have bought over 30 vehicles to support the police. We had to procure communication gargets for them to communicate. We had to budget our resources to pay the policemen who are working under the Operation Thunder Storm.”
He said all these should have been the responsibility of the Federal Government.
Commenting on the area of infrastructural renovation going on in the state, Oshiomhole said: “I was concerned that what we require is a leadership that is clear on what the challenges are and one that was also prepared to put public funds for public use.”
The governor noted that no nation has all the resources it needs to meet all the needs of the citizen, saying that with great management and purposeful leadership, you would have the resources to meet the challenge of the people.
Oshiomhole acknowledged that the initial N76 increase in the price of fuel was an overdose for the average salary earner, adding they could not afford it and they reacted negatively.
He noted that the people have become despondent that the government has not been utilizing revenue that have accrued from past subsidy removal judiciously.
He said: “In Edo, we are proud that even when we are not yet sure how much will accrue to us, we have tried to apply the anticipated increase in a way that people can see that the issue should not be whether there should be subsidy, but how to apply it to benefit the greatest good of the people. In Edo, we have shown how we can give it and we are giving it to them.”
Earlier, the team leader, Navy Commodore Ferguson Dukas Bobai, had said one of the reasons for the study in Edo State is to familiarise the students with economic and political knowledge of the country.
He commended the governor for the current infrastructural change in the state, expressing joy that government is judiciously utilising taxpayers’ money.
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