Lawmaker canvasses economic solutions, motivation of security operatives

The lawmaker representing Ibadan South-East/North-East Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Hon. Abass Adigun has called for the economic empowerment of youths in order to defeat the insurgency in the country.

He recently spoke with journalists at his office in Ibadan while unveiling he’d brought to his constituency members as part of his empowerment efforts. The House Committee vice chairman on Navy and a former U.S. service officer made a case for the adequate motivation of officers fighting insurgency war in order to get the best from them.

Adigun, who is a member of several security committees of the House of Representatives, said: “When it comes to security, it is a very big entity. Last week the National Assembly called for the replacement of the service chiefs, that they had overstayed. As security personnel, you have to think very well; if you said all the service chiefs should leave today, I agreed too. If my product is not selling anymore, of course, I will find a solution to it and a new ideas will come in.

“But that is not the solution. If we remove the service chiefs and we put another personnel there, does it address the issue on the ground? The people attacking, killing people in Nigeria, the service chiefs can’t do anything.

“The best solution is for the president to invite all the service chiefs and invite all the governors in that region majorly in the Northeast. Let’s develop that place. Let’s bring economic solutions to that place. Let’s do propaganda in that place. Let’s do everything transparently. Let’s move some big regiments to that place. Let’s recruit more Nigerians, volunteer. Let’s use the local people. Increase their payment, because there is no region in the world that can defeat the whole country.

“If the country wants to deal with that region, it will deal with it. Why don’t we have external countries to support us? Because they know that we are not transparent about fighting this war. If they see transparency when a country is fighting a war, the other countries will join them. We have nobody helping us. That means there is something attached to this war. In 10 years and they still kill people up and down. It is more than buying weapons and killing them.

“We have to look at what causes Boko Haram. Go to some states in the North, you will see some young people doing nothing and that is the generation of tomorrow for us. They want to be okay too, have children, eat three times a day and live well, too. So, we need to invite governors in the region to do economic solutions to young people, create jobs for them and use them to fight the locals, because they understand their language, culture and one another. All these governors should be held accountable. Their security vote is enough to cater to everything over there”.

While speaking on the motion he moved on the floor of the House, Adigun said: “It is because of this insecurity that we are facing every day. The salaries are so poor. Even the chairman of my committee, an ex-policeman, said if he ever becomes president of this country, he will increase the salary of policemen because they are supposed to be dealing with local issues. The military is made to defend the country, not to fight internally. If we do not equip them very well, you don’t pay their salaries on time, you don’t give them allowances, you don’t promote them, how do you want them to fight and win a war? Do you want them to go outside there and die? Because that is the message we are sending to them when we put them in the frontline.

“When I was in the U.S., each one of us had insurance of $400,000 and if you don’t come back, the military, the Navy that I belonged to will give you another $150,000. So I put my father, my mother, my brother, my sister and uncle are there; even if I don’t come back. $150,000 is enough for my family. Do we have anything like that for our security to go and fight the war? Government should look into their allowances. You should give some extra to entice them to give their best. We don’t have that. You want to go and die, how will my family, children survive if I don’t come back?

“That was what I was fighting for when I moved that motion. The motion has been passed which is supposed to go to the executive arm of government, but nothing happened. I didn’t hear anything anymore”.