You can’t police hunger, Amaechi blasts Tinubu-led government

Rotimi Amaechi, former Minister of Transportation, has said that Nigeria’s fight against insecurity will remain ineffective unless the Tinubu administration tackles the problem of hunger and economic hardship among its citizens.

Speaking on Sunday during a virtual meeting with youths of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Amaechi argued that relying solely on military force to combat insecurity, without addressing poverty and deprivation, would only worsen instability.

“Any leader who wants to resolve the issue of insecurity in Nigeria will know that physical policing alone will not be the solution,” he said.

“No matter how much you equip the police and the army, the other people will continue to equip themselves to fight back against the state actors.”

Amaechi recalled that during his tenure as governor of Rivers State, his administration combined enforcement with social and economic development to tackle insecurity.

“When we got in, we started building primary schools in every village, constructing primary health care centres, and opening roads in rural communities,” he said.

“But beyond that, we localised the contracts, meaning contractors came from the same communities where the projects were sited.”
He explained that empowering local contractors helped stimulate community economies and reduce crime.

“When you pay them, they pay their workers, and that money circulates in the community. It created jobs, kept people busy, and reduced crime,” he said.

“We created alternatives first, then policed the state. People knew that if they got involved in banditry or kidnapping, they were lawbreakers, not freedom fighters.”

Amaechi stressed that addressing insecurity requires more than force—it demands economic empowerment and trust between citizens and government.

“You can’t police hunger. You build peace when people have work, dignity, and faith in government,” he said.