Insecurity: public officers should account for security votes, says Bishop Isong

From ANI BASSEY, Calabar

The National Publicity Secretary of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, and General Overseer of the Christian Central Chapel International, Bishop Emmah Gospel Isong says pubic officers in the country should be made to account for security votes.

He decried the poor security situation in the country and emphasized that the situation can be reversed if the country adopts an intelligence driven approach to security.

Bishop Isong made this known in Calabar while speaking on the state of the nation and steps government needs to take to redeem the nation for the good of the citizens.

He asserted that “To stem the tide of insecurity, security votes at federal and state level should be accounted for and made public.

“Right now, as we are talking, I think it is one of the funds that you don’t need to retire, you and I know that. So, security vote should be something that should be retired, something that should be made public.

“You should tell us what you used it for, when once governors, ministers tell us what they use security vote for I can bet you that things will improve.

“We also have to improve our already obsolete weapons, now technology fights crime not mere human beings, I hope you know that if you look at the president of America, china and Britain, you don’t see a policeman standing behind them.

“It is only a Nigerian governor and president that goes with three or four MOPOL, blocking the camera, you can’t even video.

“Most presidents walk past the crowd because there is enough intelligence and technology that handles security.

“Security is no more about archaic guns the world is just shipping them to Nigeria, they have abandoned those weapons, they are not used again, we are in a world of technology, the 21st century, classical technology” he said.

In addition, he stressed that the government cannot successfully fight insecurity in the country without addressing the poor economic situation the country is faced with.

Quoting the Maslow Economic theory, he said the first need of man is food, so government should get the “stomach infrastructure” rolling, get everybody happy, get everybody food on the table, use the food on the table policy  and nobody will remember to go to the street to protest or the pipeline to break it  or other crimes and of course with a lot of intelligence gathering.

He decried the large-scale unemployment in the country emphasizing that with proper planning Nigeria has the resources to engage the teeming youths in productive endeavours.

He called on the government to hand over critical sectors of the economy to the private sector so as to catalyse production, set up a cottage industry in all the 774 local councils  in partnership with leaders of these areas to reverse rural – urban migration, provide jobs at the rural level and activate production in the country.