Insecurity: South-west Speakers Urge Govs to Strengthen Forest Rangers, Buy Drones, Choppers

The speakers of the states’ houses of assembly in the South-West states have asked governors in the geopolitical zone to jointly acquire security drones and helicopters for surveillance purposes in order to fight the growing insecurity in the area.

In a communiqué issued after their meeting, which was signed by the Chairman of the conference, Hon. Bamidele Oloyelooun, in

Ibadan, Oyo State, the speakers also asked the governors to empower forest rangers in their states to begin aggressive combing of forests to dislodge criminals occupying the areas and perpetrating criminal activities from there.

“The efforts of the state governments in the region in addressing the security challenges are yielding positive results, while calling on the Federal Government to take more proactive steps to urgently restore peace to the troubled spots as well as the entire country. It is also imperative that government should mete out appropriate sanctions and send strong warning to people behind the various dastardly acts.

“The forum noted further and advocated that the governors of the South-West states should come together to procure drones and at least three helicopters for the aerial surveillance of the entire region.

“They should adequately empower the forest rangers in their states to embark on aggressive patrol of the forest areas. This step will no doubt change the security architecture of the South-West states.

“The laws establishing the Western Nigeria Security Network (Amotekun Corps) as passed by the Houses of Assembly should be strengthened to give room for the recruitment of able-bodied unemployed youths, as this will help in surveillance, information and intelligence gathering.

“The present Nigeria police are doing their best in securing the nation, but the Conference insists on the establishment of state police to complement the efforts of the security agencies,” the communiqué explained.