By Osaretin Ekiadolor
The National President of Nigeria Union of Journalist (NUJ), Mallam Mohammed Garba today challenged the Federal Government to step up its efforts at addressing the precarious security situation that has led to loss of lives and properties across Nigeria.
The NUJ President also called on the federal government to tackle the menace of corruption which has earned Nigeria an unenviable position of 2nd most corrupt and insecure nation in the West Africa sub-region. Garba noted that the high incidence of bombings and kidnappings across the states requires drastic measure by the federal government to tackle and restore confidence amongst the population.
Comrade Garba made this call while addressing journalists at FCT Council of the Nigerian Union of Journalists at Utako as part of his monthly press briefing on the state of the nation.
“The issue of security, as far as I am concerned continues to be the major problem of our nation today. If you read the pages of newspaper as am talking to you today, you will consistently be reading fresh stories of bombing, increasing cases of Kidnap armed robbery, assassination, etc, this problem as far as we are concerned is so worrisome that some Nigerians don’t travel to avoid being victims.
“This issue is denting the image of this country, it is affecting foreign investors . We want to urge government to come up with measure to drastically reduce the incidence of insecurity in Nigeria.”
Making a case for effective security operation he called on the Federal Government to adequately equip security agencies with modern gadgets that would help the personnel and the government to match the threats facing the population and the nation.
He called on the government and relevant security agencies to also intensify training and re-training of security personnel’s to forestall further breach of security nationwide.
Comrade Garba condemned the lingering fuel crisis in the country adding that unless the culprits of oil subsidy fraud are appropriately tried before the court of law under the law of the land.
“Quite a number of people are still sleeping in fuel stations, we are still worried , despite our large quantity of oil production, we feel that why we are still suffering is because of corruption. We are
alarmed that corruption in oil is scientifically politicized, we feel that unless government addresses the issue with sincerity , the scarcity of fuel will continue
“The issue of corruption has remained high , the anti graft agencies , EFCC and ICPC are facing a lot of challenges as they have been frustrated , we feel that there is urgent need for the government to
strengthen these agencies and make them independent” to be able to carry out its assignment effectively with the desired result for the good of the commonwealth.
Meanwhile , he commended the National Assembly for passing the 2013 budget two weeks to the end of the year but regretted that only 55% of the 2012 budget was implemented . He described the half implementation of 2012 budget as unhealthy and he said this may be the cause of endless hardship in the country.
