The pan-Yoruba socio-cultural and socio-political
organization, Afenifere, has commended the governors of the six states in
Yorubaland over their decision to establish a Joint Surveillance Monitoring
Team ‘to oversee and coordinate security efforts across the South West region’.
The commendation was contained in a Press Statement
issued by the organization’s National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Jare Ajayi.
It would be recalled that the six governors met at the
Lagos State Secretariat, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos on Thursday, where they resolved
to establish the surveillance team as well as taking steps to bring down food
prices in the region.
They were Governors Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Lucky
Aiyedatiwa (Ondo), Biodun Oyebamiji (Ekiti), Dapo Abiodun (Ogun), Ademola
Adeleke (Osun) and Babajide Sanwoolu (Lagos) who hosted his colleagues.
The Thursday meeting was the second since the South
West Governors’ Forum (SWGF) elected Governor Sanwoolu of Lagos as its chairman
on June 10, 2024.
Having taken note of security threats in the South
West, the governors stated in the communique issued at the end of their meeting
that they have “agreed to establish a Joint Surveillance Monitoring Team to
oversee and coordinate security efforts across the South West region”.
To give life to this resolution, the Forum expressed
its commitment to “deploying advanced technology, including aerial surveillance
systems to enhance security operations”.
The governors also decided on mandating their
respective Special Advisers on Security to “collaborate on intelligence
gathering and sharing between State security agencies, local security networks,
and federal law enforcement authorities among South West States”.
Afenifere regarded this as a good and timely move.
“Incidentally, a framework is already in place for them to work on. That is the
Southwest Security Network otherwise called ‘Amotekun’. All the states in the
region have Amotekun except Lagos. What they needed to do now is not only to
ensure that Lagos establish its own but to streamline the activities of the
body, equip it and boost the morale of its personnel through appropriate wages
and other incentives”.
Afenifere spokesman stated that it is worthy of note
that the governors expressed their readiness to deploy advanced technology,
including aerial surveillance systems in their area.
He, however, urged the governors not to let this be at
the level of mere postulation or rhetoric but to actualize the decision by
“procuring and deploying modern equipment for the purpose of detecting security
threats as well as providing the wherewithal to apprehend would-be culprits
possibly before crimes are committed and certainly even after the commission of
criminality”.
Enjoining the governors not to waste any time in
actualizing their resolution, Ajayi recalled that the Oyo State Governor, Seyi
Makinde, only last month, revealed that bandits have established camps in his
state, mentioning the one near Fashola in Oyo-Iseyin axis where he observed his
birthday vacation in December, 2024.
There also were reports of banditry and terrorist acts
in Ondo, Osun, Ekiti, and Ogun in recent times. On Wednesday this week, Ogun
State Security Network Agency, Amotekun Corps, disclosed that it has rescued 16
alleged victims of sexual abuse in a brothel in Ifo, Ifo local government area
of the state. The victims ages range between 12 and 27.
Reports of banditry and related terrorism acts often
come from Yewa and Oke-ogun/Ibarapa areas of Ogun and Oyo States as well.On the
resolution of the governors to “implement collectives measures aimed at curbing
food inflation in the region”.
Afenifere submitted that the focus of governments in
the South West should not necessarily be on forcing foodstuffs sellers to bring
down the prices of food items.
“They should focus more on ensuring that foods are
produced in large quantity in their respective areas. If food items are
surplus, sellers and middlemen would be forced to sell at reasonable prices. In
any case, governments can even set up special areas where foods they produced
can be procured by citizens as Lagos State is doing”.
The statement maintained that setting up ‘State Food
Inflation Joint Monitoring Team’ and ‘Aggregation Centre /Food Hubs’ as
announced is not likely to achieve the objective of mitigating food inflation.
What can achieve this is to ensure that foods are produced in large quantity in
the region.
“It is a known fact that most of the foods being
consumed in the South west come from other regions outside of Yorubaland. This
was not the case in the past. We should take steps to ensure that we produce
what we consume – or at least a good quantum of what we consume”.
He added that efforts at controlling prices of
commodities without working on how these commodities are produced may be
counter-productive.
This is because local sellers normally base their
selling prices on how much they bought the commodities, costs of
transportation, various levies by sundry bodies including governments as well
factoring-in their own profit margins.“
“These are factors responsible for the inflation of
food prices and they can be reduced to the barest minimum if the foods are
produced locally” the statement concluded.
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