Lawmaker blames insecurity in Nigeria on poverty, failure of social values

A member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Olumuyiwa Jimoh has said that the prevailing insecurity in Nigeria is a product of poverty and result of failure of the nation’s social values.

Jimoh, who represents Apapa Constituency 2 in the Assembly, added in an interview with newsmen that the high rate of insecurity in the Northern part of the country can be traced to the failure of the nation’s social values and the kind of federalism the country practises, which he said is an aberration.

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The lawmaker, who is the Deputy Majority Leader of the Assembly, added that it would be difficult for someone from the North to govern people in the South because they don’t share the same belief and values.

Adding that, “Anywhere in the world, where poverty is dominant, there is bound to be insecurity. It takes the people of the same community to govern each other.

“We all travel abroad and we see how things are. Compared to Nigeria they have cosmopolitan police in some other countries and they do the same work with the state and federal police,” he said.

While quoting the great philosopher, Aristotle who said that it is only the people of the same tribe, character, beliefs and culture that could govern themselves, the lawmaker noted that it would also take the people of the same community to police each other.

“When you land at Heathrow Airport in London, your first encounter is the cosmopolitan police, not even the state police. They will carry out the assignments of the federal or state police.

“People have argued against state police. But we have the state high courts that are created by the state governments, funded by the state governments and budgeted for by the state government, yet give judgment against the same state government.

“The two major robbery incidents in Lagos State in 2018/2019 were through the water ways. At that time, the state and Federal Governments were fighting over who had control over the water ways,” he said.

Jimoh stressed that the late head of state, Gen. Murtala  Mohammed proposed the movement of the nation’s capital from Lagos to Abuja because he felt that Lagos was insecure because of it’s close to the Atlantic Ocean, and it was perceived as a threat to national security.

“I totally disagree with that as a social scientist. Most of our neighbouring countries have their capitals close to the shores of the Atlantic Ocean and it is not threat to their national security.

“Countries such as Lomé, Accra, Senegal have their capitals close to the Atlantic Ocean,” he said.

According to the lawmaker, the issue of security is well emphasised by the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria, adding that security outfit of the South West, Amotekun should not be overemphasised and romanticised.

He advised that the people of the South West region should be careful so that Amotekun would not deviate from its primary purpose of establishment.

“This was the case with the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC). I was one of those who wrote its constitution  and we were the precursor of the organisation.

“But now OPC seems to have deviated from the purpose of its establishment as the members are now settling family disputes, which was not part of the aims of creating it. 

“We must be careful with any organisation we want to experiment with so that it won’t mislead people and further confuse us as a people,” he said.

On the issue of the controversial restriction on the operations of Okada and Tricycle by the Lagos State government, Jimoh said that Okada had done more harm than good to the people of the state.

He stated that a lot of casualties were being recorded in the state daily and that 90% of the accidents that resulted into admission in orthopaedic hospitals are caused by Okada men, adding also that Okadas were being used as tools for robbery in the state.

The lawmaker opined that no country in the world made use of Okada as the major means of transportation or means of livelihood.

He said that the noise that accompanied the restriction of the operation of Okada riders in the state was because residents of the state are not planning to live a normal life.

According to him, “Lagos State should be a city state because it has a population of over 20 million people, which makes us more than just a city and is bigger than Cote D’ Ivoire and Ghana combined.

“City state is the peak of a state. Rome is a City State, Monaco is a City State. They are not better than us.”