*Wants more powers for Govs to tackle insecurity
By Chesa Chesa
Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, says he does not operate the contentious ‘Security Vote’, but has made a case for State Governors to be given more latitude and headroom to tackle security challenges at subnational levels, even with the nation’s federal structure.
The Governor bared his mind on Thursday shortly after be met behind closed doors with President Bola Tinubu, to seek an appointment for Southeast leaders and Ohaneze Ndigbo to meet the President over unrelenting insecurity in the region.
Uzodimma stressed that while he has no security vote to draw from even as the ‘Chief Security Officer’ of Imo State, he manages to adopt both kinetic and non-kinetic strategies to deal with security challenges as much as he is able to within the law.
Nonetheless, it is important that Governors elected to manage the affairs of the people should be given more latitude to perform their functions effectively, he explained.
His words: “All the security agencies have been working collaboratively with the local authorities because at the end of the day, federal government security officers must also work with local input in terms of local intelligence gathering, community vigilante and all sorts of things. So it is going to be a collaborative effort.
“On Security vote, I’m not against it, but I don’t operate it in Imo State. You should find out from my parliament, I don’t operate it in Imo State but I still think that Governors should be given a headroom, Governors should be allowed a window to have funds they can use to manage security issues.
“As I speak to you, we are not addressing the problem of insecurity in Imo state through kinetic means alone, we have adopted both kinetic and non kinetic approach.
“We also procure intelligence that will help security agencies function effectively and efficiently. So all these are intangible aspects of security control measures.
“So it is then important that Governors who have been elected, sworn-in to manage the resources and the mandate of the people be given latitude to operate so that they’ll be able to provide results.”
Moreover, Uzodimma pointed out that the people of Southeast believe in unity of Nigeria and like other regions, deserve Federal Government support to enable them live their daily lives and go about their businesses.
He declined to give details of what the Southeast leaders would be demanding from Tinubu when the meeting holds, but lamented that non-state actors have utilised fear and indiscriminate killings and brigandage to enforce an illegal sit-at-home on some days in the region.
According to him, the problem had also become an issue of “perception management”, even as he pointed out that international diplomacy, which is also part of the solution, is beyond the purview of State Governors.
Asked about the claim by former Nigeria Delta militant, Asari Dokubo, that his men are helping the a federal Government tackle insecurity in the Southeast, Uzodimma replied that he was not aware of such, and can’t identify who are are ‘Dokubo’s men’.
He also noted that because of the federal structure of the country, State Governors are not at liberty to choose or reject security measures decided by the Federal Government.
The Governor further highlighted the flooding ravaging the Southeast, declaring that a recent hydrographic survey shows that the huge cost of remedying the situation may be beyond the capabilities of State Governments.
