Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom has urged the Federal Government to grant licences to responsible citizens to carry sophisticated weapons such as AK47.
This, faccording to him, will deter criminals from attacking innocent and helpless Nigerians.
He said the policy should be backed by a strict legal framework to prevent illegal possession of arms by the citizenry without exception.
Ortom, made the call in the paper he presented on Tuesday during the virtual meeting convened by the Centre for Values in Leadership, CVL, in collaboration with Nigeria Governors’ Forum, NGF.
He also recommended adequate funding of security agencies and continuous training of their personnel to enable them to be abreast of global dynamics in the fight against insecurity.
Ortom, in the paper titled, ‘Insecurity and Governance Challenges in the New Normal’, said governments at all levels must acknowledge the reality of the threat posed by insecurity to the development of the country and be willing to sincerely tackle the menace.
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He reiterated his call on the Federal Government to embrace ranching as it is the global best practice of animal husbandry and to put in place a law to end open grazing which often comes with attacks on farming communities by armed herdsmen militia.
Governor Ortom also advocated improved educational standards and enhanced public enlightenment campaigns to give the people, particularly youths the needed orientation to shun negative acts and become more patriotic.
He called for the repositioning of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency through training, funding, and logistics to successfully confront drug barons and peddlers; a move he said would stop illegal drugs from entering and circulating in the country.
Governor Ortom also recommended that the embargo on employment be lifted and more job opportunities created to take Nigerian youths from the streets.
He challenged the federal, state, and local governments to show greater commitment to developing the agricultural value chain to generate more job opportunities for Nigerians.
Gov. Ortom while drawing attention to the significant contributions to national development which Benue as the food basket of the nation, has made, posited that if the state is threatened by insecurity, the negative impact would be on the entire country.
