Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai has confessed that despite his government doing everything possible to fight insecurity in the state, the situation has defied every effort because the federal government which should be in charge of security seems to have abdicated its duties.
El-Rufai who made this confession while appearing as a guest on a Channels Television programme on Thursday morning, said the task of securing the state had been hampered by the structure of the security agencies which lies with the government at the center.
“I can tell you that we have done our best to tackle insecurity in Kaduna State but we are being hampered by the structure which lies with the Federal Government. You may call this resignation, you may call it surrender but absolutely it is not abdication.
“We have spent billions of naira in the fight against terrorists and bandits which naturally should be the duty of the Federal Government and we have sent the bill to the center for a refund but that is not forthcoming.
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“Like I said, security is on the exclusive list and heads of security agencies take directives from the Federal Government. For instance, I can give orders to the Commissioner of Police in Kaduna and it is his discretion to follow the orders or not.
“When I came in, Kaduna State had only 13,000 policemen but we needed more than 20,000 to be able to police the state adequately.
“I wrote to the Police Service Commission but it took almost two years for the request to be looked into. But even at that, we did not get the number we requested.
“That is why I am also advocating for state police. We do need state police in Kaduna. Luckily, one of our members in the House of Representatives has presented a bill on that and we are pushing behind him to see that it sails through,” the Governor said.