By Anayo Ezugwu

THE federal government has been advised to address the rising insecurity across the country with the recommendations of the 2014 National Conference on state police. Professor Anya O. Anya, former chief executive officer, Nigeria Economic Summit Group, said President Muhammadu Buhari must demonstrate that he is ready to fight insecurity in the country.

Anya, who spoke to Realnews in an exclusive interview in Lagos, said: “We agreed in 2014 at the National Conference that there will be state police. Whatever the augments are had been finished by that time remaining implementation. The truth of the matter is what does the police do? Police maintain peace and order and make sure that people live together. The criminals are identified and put in check and the policeman can patrol as the case maybe and follow up cases of misdemeanour and so on.

“Otherwise, there is no effective police unless the police know the environment in which he is operating and that is the basis of community policing and therefore state policing. You cannot stay in Abuja and know what is happening in a major country with over 300 ethnic groups. Only those ethnic groups will know the area and will lead you to do the right things. Those opposed to state police talked about that it may be misused politically, what of the misused other resources of Nigeria that we have been living with?” he said.

Anya raised alarm over the establishment of Fulani colonies in all the forests across southern Nigeria.

According to him, there are enough indications that all the isolated forests in southeast, southwest, south-south and the middle belt, there are Fulani colonies in them and armed.

He noted that the colonies are what gave Miyelti Allah the confidence to now say that they are going to be the vigilantes in the southeast. “They will be armed, but the native vigilantes will not be armed. So who is in charge and even the thought of it? These are the things I called the firewalls, the lines you do not breach,” he said.

Anya suggested to the government to first of all address the level of insecurity by being sincere in order to restore confidence and trust. “But that is where our current president has a problem. It is difficult because of what he said and did in the past for people to believe him when he now says I want to build a new Nigeria where everybody is welcome, so he needs himself to give signals that this time I’m serious, this time we need everybody.

“And he would have to show to Nigerians that he is not only president of the Fulanis, he is president of Nigeria. The signals he gave us why the Fulanis are important, remember soon after he came to power he wanted to build the railway system to now go from Katsina to Maradi in northern Niger Republic. Is Maradi part of Nigeria? In our economy what is it that we are receiving from Niger that we need to have a railway to evacuate it. Secondly, he also said he wanted to build a new refinery, but the crude oil for that refinery will not come from Nigeria, it was to come from the crude oil in Niger.

“So, he is giving the signal that the welfare of our neighbours is more important to him than the welfare of all of us. But I know he does not mean that and he can change the picture. But it seems nobody can do it for him because it is when he takes the first step and say this is the new direction. Then people like me and others will now start saying we need to rebuild this nation.

“In fact, the two groups of people who need Nigeria more than other Nigerians are the Igbos and the Fulanis because they are the ones that move around everywhere and make their home everywhere and prosper in those places. The difference is that the Igbos are more tolerant and respectful of where they go to and are prepared to integrate. Once an Igbo man establishes in Funtua, the problems of Funtua as far as he is concerned, are his problems.

“But that is not the situation with the Fulani, but they are people among the Fulanis and some are my friends, who see the only viable goal is for the Fulanis to cooperate with other Nigerians to build that great Nigeria that can now benefit the whole of Africa.

It is still possible, but the signals have to come from the Fulani leadership, neither from Miyetti Allah or even what we have seen of Buhari must signal that these other constructive thinking group in the Fulanis can work with them,” he said.

– June 28, 2018 @ 19:39 GMT |