Security agencies not justifying N100m spent on them monthly – Governor

The Niger State Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello, has advocated that traditional institutions should be given more roles, including security votes, because of the lost hope in security agencies in curtailing the increasing rate of crimes in the nation.
Bello said the N100 million allocated to security agencies in the State has not yielded the desired results.
The Governor, who stated this on Tuesday when the Council of Traditional Rulers in the State, led by the Etsu Nupe, Dr. Yahaya Abubakar, paid him a Sallah homage in Government House Minna, expressed dismay over the new wave of crime currently sweeping across the state.
According to him: “There is a total breakdown of law and order in the state as criminals are beginning to take hold of the state.
“Despite the huge amount voted and given to security agencies monthly, they have failed in making the state and nation safer as crimes seem to have come to stay in the nation.
“If N100 million is given to traditional rulers, the nation would fare better in the aspect of security.
“I support that we go back to the traditional ways of securing our community.
“The traditional system performed better in the past and they can do better now if more powers is given to them.
“I recommend that we give more powers to traditional rulers on security grounds.
“We spend a lot of money on security, but we do not have a safe environment.
“In Niger State, we spend N100 million 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.”
Bello added that the state needs a lot of prayers as all efforts to combat this new wave of crime seems not to be working, adding that he has lost confidence in the security apparatus.
He said: “We need a lot of prayers in Niger State.
“We are faced with a new kind of security challenge that is 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 laws into their hands and kill because they have conflict with others.
“Then you should know that we are in trouble.
“We are beginning to lose it as a people and a state.
“In the past, nobody gets away with murder, kidnapping or crime, but these days, kidnappers and criminal kingpins walk the street freely.
“Because what will you say in a situation where you know who we are dealing with, we have their names and addresses, but we do not arrest them.
“It is showing and frightening.
“As a governor, I am becoming afraid because I do not know who to trust or who to talk to.”