Post Amnesty: Don Calls For Security Beef-up

Worried over the security challenges that may surface following amnesty granted by the Federal Government to Niger Delta militants, a senior lecturer in the Department of Banking and Finance in the Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Dr Omodele Momadu has called on the state government to beef up security.

Dr Momodu, who made public his view in an exclusive chat with The Tide On Sunday, recently submitted that government needs to take decisive action on criminal elements who hide under the cloak of Niger Delta struggle to commit crime.

He stated that by accepting and surrendering their arms to government, the militants have equally pledged to be of good behaviour, hence no excuse should be given to perpetrate vices inimical to society.

“The day they surrendered their arms, they would have known that the game was over and they should better accept it,” Dr Momodu submitted.

The university don stated that the government needs to evolve more tighter measures to punish criminals as a way of sending a warning signal to others following the ugly incident that occurred at University of Port Harcourt last year.

One way to tackle backwardness in the Niger Delta, according to Dr Momodu, was for the local and state governments to be more responsive to the needs of the people by using their allocations resourcefully.

According to him, local government should concentrate on projects that are capable of alleviating the needs of the local people, such as good water, building of markets, renovating schools.

He condemned a situation where local governments embark on white elephants projects that do not have any economic value on the people.

The Banking and Finance expert, who faulted the long absence of the president due to ill-health said the presidency would have taken the noble path by officially handing over to the Vice President.

In his view, the vacuum created by the prolonged stay of the president outside the country was capable of affecting the effective implementation of the 2010 budget.