Governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom has appealed to the Federal Government to allow “responsible Nigerians” to carry assault rifles.
He stated this Tuesday during a paper presentation at a virtual meeting convened by Centre for Values in Leadership, CVL, in collaboration with Nigeria Governors’ Forum, NGF.
He said the policy should be backed by a strict legal framework to prevent illegal possession of arms by the citizenry without exception.
In the paper titled ‘Insecurity and Governance Challenges in the New Normal’, the governor said governments at all levels must come to terms with the fact that insecurity is a real threat to development of the country and be willing to sincerely tackle the menace.
He also recommended adequate funding of security agencies and continuous training of their personnel to enable them be abreast of global dynamics in the fight against insecurity.
The governor urged the Federal Government to embrace ranching as it is the global best practice of animal husbandry and enact a law to end open grazing which often comes with attacks on farming communities by armed herdsmen militia.
Ortom also advocated improved educational standards and enhanced public enlightenment campaigns to give the people, particularly youths the needed orientation to shun negative acts and become more patriotic.
He called for the repositioning of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency through training, funding and logistics to successfully confront drug barons and peddlers; a move he said would stop illegal drugs from entering and circulating in the country.
Ortom also recommended that the embargo on employment be lifted and more job opportunities created to take Nigerian youths from the streets.
He tasked the federal, state and local governments to show greater commitment to developing the agricultural value chain to generate more jobs for Nigerians.
Ortom concluded his presentation by stating that Benue State has made significant contributions to national development and as the food basket of the nation, if the state is threatened by insecurity, the negative impact would be on the entire country.
He therefore solicited the support of all stakeholders in tackling security challenges and pledged the resolve of his administration to ensuring the safety of lives and property.
Recall that Senator for Kaduna Central in the 8th Senate, Shehu Sani on Tuesday called for a Citizen Defence Force (CDF) to support the efforts of security agencies against the activities of bandits, kidnappers and terrorists.
This is just as President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday promised to increase funding to the military.
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Ortom said,