Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
Former military head of state, General Abdulsalami Abubakar (retd), has told President Muhammadu Buhari that the sure way out of insecurity rocking the country is for his administration to provide economic base and jobs to lift people out of poverty.
He gave the advice, yesterday in a chat with journalists in Ibadan after he paid a visit to Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, at the Governor’s Office, Agodi.
Abubakar, however, enjoined all and sundry that they have pivotal roles to play in strengthening the security architecture of the state, by giving necessary support to the security agencies.
“We cannot leave the issue of security to the government alone. Each and every one of us has a role to play in trying to ensure that you pass any information that you think will help and strengthen security in your area.
“And also if you see someone trying to make trouble, it is your responsibility as a citizen to do what is right and go and report such suspicious individuals to security agencies.
“On the issue of what the government can do, the government can try to provide economic base and activities for the individuals so that the individuals can be involved in making lives more comfortable for themselves, so that they would not have any moment or time to go and cause trouble.”
Governor Makinde, in his response, said his administration has been taking pragmatic steps to ensure adequate security of lives and property in the state.
“Yesterday (Wednesday), I visited the Oyo State Security Trust Fund office to have a deep appreciation of what we have on ground. We know precisely where we want to go and so, we are in a phase where we are getting to know all the data and where the gaps reside and in a very short time, you will start seeing changes and improvement in the security architecture of the state,” he said.