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Buhari, Wike Seek Monarchs’ Role In Nation Building …As RSG Says Health Sector Repositioning, On Course
The Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike has reiterated his call for the decentralisation and depoliticisation of security services as a way of resolving the deadly security challenges facing the country.
Wike noted that that the security services as presently constituted, cannot address the security challenges facing the country, where lives are wasted regularly, while governors are helpless.
Speaking during the 9th General Assembly of the National Council of Traditional Rulers of Nigeria, yesterday, in Port Harcourt, Wike said that the Rivers State Government has taken steps to improve the security of the state through the setting up of a neighbourhood watch.
He said: “For us in Rivers State, our position on state and community policing is very clear. While we join our voices with other well-meaning Nigerians to strongly and emphatically demand for the decentralization and depoliticisation of security services, we are also not resting on the back of helplessness to do nothing.
“Already, we have forwarded a bill to the state House of Assembly to establish the Neighbourhood Security Corps to cooperate, support and complement the efforts of the regular security agencies in policing our communities and advancing their security.”
The governor noted that: “The reality before the nation is that centralised policing has flatly failed and is incapable of resolving the enormous security challenges of a vast and culturally diverse country like Nigeria.
“And even as we may continue to live in denial, the recurring bloodbaths in Benue, Taraba and other states have once again exposed the weaknesses of our country’s centralised policing system as well as the frustrations and near complete helplessness of state governors in their quest to provide adequate security for the communities and the people that they govern.
“We can only imagine the magnitude of the sufferings and pains ordinary Nigerians are going through when the daily pains of violence and insecurity are added to the unending pressure of poverty, unemployment and lack of development,” the governor said.
Wike said that at a time like this, it will be ungodly for good men to remain silent while the nation is dangerously wobbling, and urged all well-meaning persons to be counted among those who will work for the resolution of the security challenges facing the country.
He said that Rivers State was peaceful, working and brimming with ample economic opportunities for investors to take advantage of.
The governor said the traditional institution must wake up to their responsibilities by lending their strong and respected voices to the national agitations for true federalism, resource control, greater devolution of powers, as well as state and community policing and good governance in the country.
Wike said: “In all these, our traditional rulers have significant roles to play to protect and defend the nation’s unity and advance the rights of our people to democracy, good governance and development.”
Declaring the 9th General Assembly of the National Council of Traditional Rulers of Nigeria open, President Muhammadu Buhari stated that his administration will take steps to promote security of lives and property.
He noted that security challenges seem to be deliberate and an attempt to undermine the nation’s territorial integrity.
Represented by the Minister of Interior, Lt-Gen Abdulrahman Danbazzau , the President said that he was saddened by the wastage of human lives in different parts of the country.
He directed security agencies to identify and bring to book all those involved in deadly crimes.
In a keynote address, Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris said that the police alone cannot tackle insecurity without the support of traditional rulers and their subjects.
In a paper titled: “Community Policing as a Catalyst to Crime Prevention: The Role of Traditional Rulers “, the Inspector General of Police said that community policing involves the engagement of the community in tackling security challenges.
In his address, Chairman of the National Council of Traditional Rulers of Nigeria and Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar requested governments at all levels to work towards enhancing security.
He urged the traditional rulers to take the camaraderie that exist in the forum to their respective communities for national peace.
Chairman of the Rivers State Council of Traditional Rulers, King Dandeson Douglas Jaja said Nigerians must rise above partisan consideration in the quest for peace.
The Co-Chairman of the National Council of Traditional Rulers of Nigeria and Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi urged Nigerians to keep politics aside, engage in peer review on ways to develop the country.
Meanwhile, the Deputy Governor of Rivers State, Dr Ipalibo Harry Banigo has described the state Chief Executive, Chief Nyesom Wike as an astute and sagacious statesman whose commitment to the unity and progress of Nigeria is unequivocal.
Banigo made this known in a statement in Government House, Port Harcourt, in reaction to the governor’s hosting of the 9th General Assembly of the National Council of Traditional Rulers of Nigeria.
The deputy governor said “Governor Wike has continued to demonstrate an extra ordinary prowess in his inter personal human relationship with people from diverse socio cultural, political, religious and economic divide in the country which has made him one of the greatest exponents of a unified Nigeria”.
Meanwhile, the Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike has stated that the process for the re-positioning of all levels of the health sector was effectively on course, with the acquisition of state-of-the-art equipment for the Braithwaite Memorial Specialist Hospital (BMSH).
Wike also declared that the total rehabilitation of structures at the BMSH will create the right environment for quality tertiary healthcare delivery.
In an interview after an inspection visit to the hospital in Port Harcourt, last Monday, Wike said that the health sector will continue to recover priority attention from his administration.
The governor, who was accompanied on the project inspection by the National Chairman of PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, said that majority of the equipment procured by the state government for the hospital have arrived.
Wike said: “Our objective is to improve the standard of the Braithwaite Memorial Specialist Hospital as a centre of excellence in tertiary healthcare delivery.
“In terms of equipment, the contractors have done well. Eighty per cent of the equipment have arrived the hospital premises and they will be installed as soon as the rehabilitation”.
He, however, noted that the progress of work on the structural rehabilitation is slow; hence the contractors should expedite action.
“We believe the contractors should deploy more workforce for the rehabilitation of the hospital. The state government is doing what is necessary to enhance the quality of the Braithwaite Memorial Specialist Hospital”, he said.
The governor also inspected the ongoing reconstruction of the Doctors’ Quarters at the Braithwaite Memorial Specialist Hospital, and advised the contractors to improve on the pace of work.
He assured that funding of the projects will be sustained early completion.
The governor was briefed during the project inspection by the Medical Director of Braithwaite Memorial Specialist Hospital, Dr Paul Kua, and Director of Nursing, Mrs. Ajumoke Okpu.
It would be recalled that the Wike administration has completed the reconstruction and equipping of 13 general hospitals spread across the three senatorial districts of the state.
Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, has called on Nigerians to reject silence in the face of extrajudicial killings and other abuses of human rights.
Soyinka stressed that accountability and civic courage remain essential to rebuilding public confidence in the nation’s institutions.
He made the call during the 28th Wole Soyinka Lecture held in Port Harcourt, last Friday as part of activities marking his 92nd birthday.
The lecture, themed “Reclaiming the Nigerian State through Accountability, Justice and Civic Courage,” drew participants from different sectors of society.
The renowned playwright and human rights advocate said the country’s greatest tragedy was not only the unlawful killings carried out by state and non-state actors, but also the silence that often follows such incidents, allowing perpetrators to evade justice.
According to him, indifference by citizens to abuses of power and violations of fundamental human rights has contributed to the persistence of extrajudicial killings and other forms of injustice across the country.
Soyinka said he dedicated this year’s lecture to victims of unlawful killings, noting that the event was intended to honour individuals who had lost their lives as a result of failures within the justice system and society’s inability to protect the sanctity of human life.
He stressed that the lecture was dedicated to what he described as the basic unit of every society – the human being, and urged Nigerians to place greater value on human dignity irrespective of ethnicity, religion or social status.
The Nobel Laureate recalled several incidents of violence, including the fatal shooting and killing of a young man in Ugheli in Delta State by a police officer, and the mob killing of Deborah Yakubu in Sokoto State sometime ago, lamenting that many of those responsible are yet to face justice.
He expressed concern that some perpetrators of violent crimes had openly admitted their actions without fear of prosecution, describing such situations as evidence of serious failures within the nation’s justice system.
Soyinka maintained that when justice is delayed or denied, public confidence in state institutions continues to erode, thereby encouraging further violations of human rights.
Responding to critics who accuse him of promoting religious or ethnic divisions whenever he spoke on such issues, Soyinka dismissed the allegations and pointed out that his advocacy has always centred on the protection of human life and the rule of law.
He urged Nigerians to remain vigilant and continue demanding justice in cases of alleged extrajudicial killings, including the recent shooting of a young man by a police officer, stressing that every life deserves equal protection under the law.
The literary icon also recalled an earlier pledge by a past incoming president to make public the files relating to unresolved assassinations and extrajudicial killings, questioning the status of the promised investigations.
He challenged citizens to continue asking questions about unresolved cases, insisting that justice, accountability and respect for human dignity are indispensable to building a peaceful, democratic and inclusive Nigerian society.
The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has clarified that there was no fire at Terminal 2 of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, contrary to its earlier advisory.
Earlier yesterday, FAAN had announced that a fire incident had occurred at Terminal 2 of the nation’s busiest airport, and assured that its Aerodrome Rescue and Firefighting Service had been deployed to contain the situation.
There were also reports that activities were briefly disrupted at the airport yesterday after smoke was seen inside parts of the terminal.
Videos circulating online showed passengers kept standing outside the terminal while firefighters responded to the incident.
However, in an update issued less than two hours later by the Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Henry Agbebire, and posted on FAAN’s official X handle, the authority said preliminary findings showed that the smoke seen at the terminal was caused by the discharge of the facility’s FM-200 fire suppression system.
“Further to our earlier advisory regarding the incident at Terminal 2 of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) wishes to provide the following update,” the statement read.
“Preliminary findings indicate that there was no fire at the terminal. The smoke observed within the affected area resulted from the discharge of the terminal’s FM-200 fire suppression system. The reason for the activation of the fire suppression system is currently being investigated,” FAAN stated.
The authority said normal operations had resumed at the terminal while investigations were ongoing to determine the cause of the incident.
“Normal operations have since resumed at the terminal, while detailed investigations are ongoing to determine the exact cause of the incident,” the statement added.
The authority thanked passengers, airlines, airport users and other stakeholders for their understanding and cooperation.
FAAN appreciated the understanding and cooperation of passengers, airlines, airport users and all stakeholders, and reiterated its commitment to the safety and security of all airport operations.