Fashola pins security, human capital building more on Governors
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Babatunde Fashola, one of the few in the federal cabinet untainted by Muhammadu Buhari’s laziness and irresponsible junketing, has reminded Nigerians that actual development in states is inspired and spearheaded by Governors, not by Abuja.
Fashola did a lot of infrastructure projects when he was Lagos Governor between 2007 and 2015, to the admiration of other Governors North and South, some of whom visited him in Ikeja for advice on how to upgraded their own states.
He is now an Abuja man as Works and Housing Minister but remains well admired and respected by Lagosians for his achievements in those eight years.
Fashola, a SAN, dug into his legal resume and reiterated in a speech at the sixth annual BRF GABFEST that Governors are responsible for the security of citizens in their states alongside the federal government.
His words: “I do not know how many recall the contents of my speech about how I tried to show how more important the Governor of my state is to my development than the President of Nigeria.
“For example, I pointed out that there is nowhere in the Constitution that security is listed as the responsibility of the Federal Government or President alone.
“In the second schedule of the Constitution where the responsibility of the Federal Government is set only, you will see responsibility for the police, the armed forces etc, which are law enforcement agencies; but you will not see the word ‘security’”.
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Narrow view of security
“If you take a narrow view of what security entails, you might be tempted to conclude that this is only a federal affair.
“But if you understand that these agencies, except for the deterrence that they may offer, usually arrive when there is a breach of security, Fashola added, per The PUNCH.
“This is supported by Section 14 2(b) of the Constitution where the word ‘security’ is used. It provides that: ‘(b) the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government’.
“It does not say which government, and my view is that it is every government; local, state and federal.”
Fashola stressed that security involves more than deployment of armed personnel.
“It is the effective deployment of socio-economic resources to create a state of harmony.
“Breaches of security have evolved from conflicts over land, for which the Federal Government has no responsibility or control, to conflict over natural resources over which the Federal Government has responsibility and control.
“Governors have as much a responsibility to keep us safe. It starts in my view with how they oversee the development of the human capital. This is less of a federal responsibility and more of state because people live in states.”