‘Restructure police to tackle insecurity’

By Adekola Afolabi
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The Ondo State Governor, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, has disclosed that the time to restructure the Nigeria Police has come to enable it tackle the various security challenges facing the country, especially in the South West region.

Akeredolu who made the disclosure at the weekend during the 2019 Oka Day Festival, held at the new palace of the Olubaka of Oka-Akoko Kingdom, Oba Yusuf Adebori Adeleye, insisted that the police architecture needs total restructuring as the central police command system was no longer effective.

He specifically called for state police to combat increased spate of insecurity in the country, describing the security challenges as very alarming.

This is coming as the Olubaka of Oka-Akoko Kingdom, Oba Yusuf Adebori Adeleye, applauded the governor  for the rehabilitation of the Owo/Ikare Road which had been in a very bad shape for the past few years.

The governor, who described the security situation in the South-West as worrisome, also decried a situation where those who should secure the people are now allegedly taking to raping of innocent school girls.

“The police architecture needs total restructuring. Central police cannot work and it is not working except we are deceiving ourselves. What we are saying is that the time has come to have state police in this country. The challenge we are having is alarming and it is a very serious matter.

“Those we also put on our roads to secure us are now raping our daughters. So, we have a great challenge and something has to be done,” Akeredolu emphasised.

The governor, however, challenged the Senator representing Ondo North Senatorial District, Senator Ajayi Boroffice and other National Assembly members in the state to lead the voice for the amendment of the necessary Acts in the constitution to pave way for the creation of state police in the country, promising to give them necessary support.

Akeredolu who also revealed that many schools have been reconstructed in Oka town apart from other road projects in the ongoing aggressive infrastructural drive by his administration, equally promised to do more to make lives more comfortable for the people in Akoko area.

The governor further hinted that his government has continued to support farmers greatly by giving them agric inputs and allowing them to farm without disturbances.

“What is more important is how we allow our farmers to farm without any rancour. Before now, they send you out of the farms on yearly basis, but we have not sent anyone out of the farm. I know that farming will get to its rightful place very soon,” he said.

He assured farmers that they would be wealthy under his administration and that their farm produce including yams would be exported massively for foreign exchange thereby changing their lives for better.

Earlier, the Olubaka of Oka-Akoko Kingdom, Oba Yusuf Adebori Adeleye, appreciated the Governor for the various infrastructural projects being executed by his administration in Oka town, saying such has positively impacted on the lives of the people of the affected areas.

“I want to thank our dear Arakunrin Akeredolu once again for the rehabilitation of Iwaro/Oke Oka road last year,” he said. The monarch  equally thanked the Governor for appointing three of the sons and daughters of the town as Permanent Secretaries, describing it as unprecedented in the history of Oka town.

Oba Adeleye further applauded Akeredolu for the ongoing rehabilitation of bad and abandoned boreholes in Oka Town, noting that over 60 boreholes are now functional since the work began last week, and this has helped address water challenges in the affected areas.

He appreciated the governor for his approval for the construction of new schools in the town. He particularly assured the governor of the readiness of Ondo State Council of Obas to continue to support the him for another term in view of his developmental projects in Akoko land as well as commitment to the transformation of the state at large.