- By Femi Alabi
The Director-General, Nigerian Army Resources Centre (NARC), Garba Wahab has said that allowing traditional rulers and local government councils to function optimally will greatly reduce insecurity at the grassroots.
Wahab made the call in a paper titled “Security a Collective Responsibility” presented at the 44th Annual General Meeting of the Alumni Association of the National Institute (AANI), on Saturday in Abuja.
He stated that government interference in traditional institutions and local councils is weakening their ability to discharge their roles effectively.
In his words, “To address insecurity, we need to go to the grassroots, the local government, because we want everybody to be involved at the local government level.
“People know themselves and so we need to get that clear and the governors should and must allow local governments, 774 of them, to function and perform effectively.
“If that is done, it becomes easier for us to get people to be involved and you cannot do that without the traditional institutions because they command so much respect within their localities.”
Wahab also called for good and inclusive governance as well as social justice to deter criminality.
He said that impunity also fuel crime as long as people know there won’t be consequence for their actions, noting that governance must be inclusive to give every segment of the society a sense of belonging.
The DG called on Nigerians to challenge the status quo, adding that once there are structures to monitor and punish those who don’t perform their assigned responsibilities, things will be better.
“So you must take steps that will make sure that everybody is involved in security, which is a collective responsibility,”.