Buhari’s lopsided appointments destroyed Nigeria’s security architecture- Chidoka
Ogbonnaya Ikokwu, Umuahia
A former Minister of Aviation Chief Osita Chidoka, has berated former President Mohammadu Bihari, for allegedly mid-wifeing the massive breakdown of security architecture in Nigeria through nepotistic appointment of Service Chiefs.
He insisted that it will take the country many years to recover from the ruins of the eight years damage done to security agencies by the Buhari’s administration.
Chidoka, who is also a former Corps Marshall of the Federal Road Safety Corps spoke during a televised interview by FLO FM Umuahia, monitored by our correspondent, also pointed out that favouritism in the employment of security personnel in the past is equally responsible for the lapses in the system.
He regretted that poorly trained and unintelligent personnel are now managing the Police, Army and Department of States Service at their top hierarchies.
Chidoka, further revealed that inadequate funding of the security agencies by the federal government has also contributed to the insecurity bedeviling the country.
He however called on the 36 state governors to provide an additional funding to the various Police commands in their states.
He said, “A look into the police budget, will reveal that its 90 per cent is used for salary payment, while only about 4 or 5 per cent is left for recruitment expenditure.
“This means that they have to find other ways of of meeting up with their pressing needs. That has led to a broken down security which is not peculiar to the South-East geo-political zone alone.
“The governors are frustrated because the personnel that we have in the security agencies are not capable of delivering security in the zone.
“In the peculiar case of the South-East we have massive failure of security agencies together with a strong feeling of marginalization that has fueled separationist agitation.
“We also have a second challenge of farmers/herdmen crisis, that is to say that terrorist who carry. Ak47 rifles are now in the country.They have turned into bandits in the North and kidnappers Southern part of the country.
“The five South-East state governors get security vote which has been turned to a slush fund that can be spent without any form of accountability and I think that is not the true idea for the security vote.
“I believe that if each state governor can open a bank account and donate one billion naira every month to the account from his security vote instead of giving cash to the Commissioner of Police which they don’t account for, it will help in funding police recurrent expenditure.
“If on the average each governor spend one billion naira monthly funding the police structures in his state, that will be thirty-six billion naira every month and when you multiple the amount by the twelve it will be more than the Police budget by federal government.
“The money can be used for police station management by rebuilding all our police stations and giving them sola powered electricity supply and maintenance of their facilities because what is more important is the police recurrent expenditure, since the federal government is already paying their salaries.
“Government can device a means of challenging police vehicles every four years and pay for their fuel at a designated filling station, while
police officers will have the first right of buying the old vehicles.
“Part of the fund can be used to pay for their training and digitalize the operation of the police as well as provide a well secured brracks for the officer to live”.