USMAN Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, the son of Nigeria’s first Prime Minister, the late Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa has kicked against the restructuring of Nigeria security stating that the Federal Government has to be responsible for security.
There have been calls in some quarters for the restructuring of the Nigerian security architecture due to the growing insecurity across the country.
The 60-year-old son of the late Tafawa Balewa in an interview with the PUNCH instead supported the call for resource control and restructuring of the economy stating that the country was not mature enough for every region to control its own security.
He said, “Restructuring in the sense of what some people are saying cannot be possible now. This is because the regions have been split into states. Even when they were just three, North, East and West, there were agitations and Mid-West was created. After that, there were agitations from places like Benue, Middle Belt and so on and it has continued till today, except we have another conference.”
“For some people, what they mean by restructuring is that all the powers of the Federal Government should be taken away to allow the states to have their own security, which is not possible, because the Federal Government has to be responsible for security. It is very good to allow every state and region to control its own resources; I support that 100 per cent.”
“As for restructuring the economy, I am for that; they will be giving the government at the centre royalties. We are not mature enough for every region to control its own security. Even in those days in the First Republic, there was a federal police. The army was strictly under the federation.”
He also said, forces, “which he didn’t name” were pulling the country apart and trying to tear it since Nigeria got its independence.
According to him, “I think they are doing their best, but the insecurity situation is getting out of hand and you know when people are dying; they complain that things are really bad. But you’ll have to sit down with the security agents to know the threat that Nigeria is facing.”
“If you look at the terrorism in Borno State, it started as a small thing, but look at what has happened within a few years. These insurgents have come out with sophisticated weapons and they are even ready to take on the Nigerian Army. If you look at the banditry in the North-West, it just mushroomed overnight,” he added.
Abubakar also said if the late premier was to witness the situation in Nigeria now, he would go crazy.
“I think he would go crazy because the stage we are in cannot be explained, seriously. You could not have imagined it. Just listen to what has been going on. Somebody will steal N1billion, for what?”
“What are you going to do with N1bn? That’s how deep the rot has gone. In the ministries, they used to have what I think was called ‘end of year.’
They would just sit down and divide the monies that were left among themselves; everybody would take their share. They would keep the money; they wouldn’t do the work. So, how could the country move again?”
Olayinka works with The ICIR as the Social Media Manager, Reporter and Fact-checker. You can shoot him an email via [email protected]. You can as well follow him on Twitter via @BelloYinka72