Governor Oyetola, delivering his speech

…says “our community watch system must be intensified”

By Ademola Adegbamigbe

Governor Adegboyega Oyetola of the State of Osun, on Wednesday, 12 February, advocated a synergy between the government and traditional institutions to fight insecurity. He argued that the first step to nipping crimes and insecurity in the bud is “to intensify our community watch system to identify the bad eggs among us and bring them to justice before they turn around to kill, kidnap and terrorise us.”

The Governor said this when he delivered a speech at The National Summit on Security and (In)Security in Nigeria: The Role Of Traditional Institution, held at the Centre for Black Culture and International Understanding, Osogbo, today.
According to Oyetola: “There is no doubt that the traditional institution has contributed immensely to the security and the integration of the nation and has also played a role in tackling the prevailing insecurity situation in the nation.”
He added that the scope, scale and manner of prevailing insecurity, especially the technology and international dimensions, which pose new threats and challenges, require new strategies and contemporary competencies to tame. “It is on this score that the decision of the Centre for Black Culture and International Understanding to organise this Summit to expose our traditional rulers to these new requirements is also apposite,” he said.
The unprecedented scale of the security challenges, as he submitted, requires a more cordial relationship and engagement between the Government and the traditional rulers for a more effective approach to security delivery. Government should therefore, according to him, regularly engage with traditional rulers while programmes of this nature should also be consistently held at the State and national levels for optimum effect.
In his words: “The traditional institution is the closest body to the grassroots and the custodian of the people’s culture and tradition. All crimes emanate from homes, communities, villages and towns. The traditional institution is, therefore, naturally the first port of call on security matters.”

Read Governor Oyetola’s full speech here