From Austine Tule, Makurdi
The member representing Katsina/ Ala, Ukum and Logo Federal Constituency Dr Richard Gbande has decried the state of insecurity in the country saying it has greatly undermined the democratic process.
Though he agreed that some level of achievements had been recorded in the process in the areas of communication and and few others, Gbande fumed that the recent killings in all parts of the country had grossly made such achievements laughable.
Fielding questions from Journalists, the Lawmaker said the situation demanded that all hands be on deck saying, the blames on the President were not personal but born out of frustration from Nigerians who are being killed on a daily basis.
” He is the father of the nation which explains why everyone looks up to him and like you know, security is the most fundamental objective of governance”
As a panaceal, Gbande advocated that the three tiers of government be allowed to owned community based security outfits but with a central coordinating unite under the supervision of conventional security agencies.
He lamented the continued attacks on farming communities across the country emphasizing such was not healthy for the economy of the country especially as it regarded food security.
Gbande who also called for the abolition of the joint Account System equally threw his weight behind full autonomy of local governments arguing that such was gonig to return local Council’s back to the era where they were very functional.
” We use to have local government councils who could carry out projects at the local level with the departments very functional.
” My believe is that if the autonomy is fully granted , the system will return to what it use to be but with proper checks.
Still on security , Gbande said, ” I think we have to decentralized the security architecture of this country down to the local government level with a centralized boby that will be coordinating it’s activities, the killings have become unabated and in the midst of this, you cannot ensure food security even for a state like Benue which is the food basket of the nation.”
The Lawmaker said the National Assembly has achieved alot in aspect of chunning out qualitative laws for the intrfey interest of Nigerians in many aspects and for continued cooperation and understanding from constituents.
