Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Saturday embarked on a nationwide consultation as part of moves to restructure the nation’s security architecture
The move is also aimed at dousing tension over recent nationwide outrage created by the spate of killings, kidnapping and armed robbery by suspected herdsmen
The Vice President who kicked off the consultations with a visit to the Akarigbo of Remoland and Awujale of Ijebuland, told journalists at the end of the visit, that the consultation was on the directives of President Muhammadu Buhari
Senior Special Assistant to the President, Office of the Vice President, Laolu Akande, declared in a statement that the Buhari administration was determined “to develop and reinforce effective strategies towards addressing security concerns around the country”
The consultations will take Osinbajo to meet with a number of leading traditional rulers with the aim of securing the peace and effective maintenance of law and order across the country.
The consultations will also be used to develop a strategic partnership and collaboration between the Federal Government and States that will significantly improve security in local communities while rearranging the security architecture nationwide.
The Vice President while briefing journalists after meeting the two traditional rulers noted that “there are many significant concerns all over the country; and of course there are concerns also in the South West. So, I’m here on the instruction of Mr. President to consult with the Kayibesi, Governor Dapo Abiodun and other stakeholders on what to do to beef up security, and to generally improve the security architecture,” the VP said.
After meeting the Awujale, the VP said “of course, you know that the Kabiyesi is not just the traditional ruler, but also a very important part of the government. That’s why we are here to speak with him and to agree on a few modalities for beefing up security, ensuring that we are fully conscious of all that is going on around us, and just to be sure that peace and security reigns here and across the country.
“There are some who might want to cause instability and difficulties, but we are very confident that God helping us, working together as a nation, we will be able to overcome all our problems and set our country on the path of peace and prosperity,” he noted.
The Vice President further said the Federal Government, in collaboration with State Governments, had taken significant steps to improve security, while there would be further consultations with the traditional rulers.
On the nationwide consultations with traditional rulers to improve security in their respective communities, the VP said, “we are consulting with many of the traditional rulers all across the country. But there are concerns in the South West. I’ve started here in Ogun. We are also going to be in Osun State on Tuesday. We are also going to go around and see several other traditional rulers. Primarily, they themselves want to participate. We’ve spoken at various times and they want to participate in improving the security architecture.”
He said that one of the things that President Buhari had spoken about was the role of traditional rulers in maintaining peace and security in their own localities, noting that they are the closest to the grassroots and their communities.
“And one of the critical things that we expect is that even with our community policing efforts, we expect that there would be some interventions between the traditional rulers, the community police and some of the other efforts that they are making to improve intelligence to understand what is going on. We need to know who is where and what exactly is happening all around, so that these can then be transmitted to the security agencies.”
