US Security Lecture Trip: Northern Govs Unserious, Ignorant and Wasteful- Ex Gov Sule Lamido
Former governor of Jigawa State, Mallam Sule Lamido has lashed out at governors of northern states who recently embarked on a trip to the United States of America to hold conference on how to tackle intractable insecurity in northern Nigeria.
Lamido in a public statement he issued over the weekend described the governors as “unserious, ignorant and wasteful.”
Lamido, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) wondered why the governors did not explore the plethora of resources within Nigerian institutions like National Institute of Policy and strategic Studies (NIPPS), Nigeria Institute of International Affairs (NIA) and the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON) that have extensive data on the security situations in Nigerian including northern Nigeria.
The former governor stated that the actions of the governors of northern Nigeria are fueling the insecurity in the states as the people in the region lack basic human needs.
His full statement reads:
“Our Northern governors as concerned leaders traveled all the way to the United States of America to attend a lecture at the American Institute for Peace titled “ADVANCING STABILITY IN NORTHERN NIGERIA”, as to find a lasting solution to the intractable problems of insecurity bedeviling their respective states.
“Their concern, commendable as it were, ended up exposing their ignorance at understanding the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the very instrument which gave them the legitimacy and the authority to be Governors.
“If the Governors had traveled to the US to engage on how to boost agriculture or health issues or any other pressing local problems listed on the Concurrent List of our Constitution, this could be quite understandable.
“But to engage on issues which are on the Exclusive Legislative List such as security says a lot about the substance they are made of.
“Security is a very wide subject which their Excellencies must have capacity to grasp. Most urban towns in their states lack portable drinking water, and refuse dumps have taken over some streets.
“Our children attend primary schools under the trees and where there are classes, they take their lessons sitting on the floor, yet the security implications of this cannot be discerned by their Excellencies
“Deliberate and harshly induced poverty by unplanned government policies have made citizens lose their esteem, honour and self-worth by lining up scrambling to collect palliatives from patronizing and condescending leaders yet the Insecurity of this is of no worry or concern to them
“You have governors with no human empathy or respect for dignity or decency in an open show of shame throwing money like confetti from an open Jeep and people scrambling to pick it like the Governor of Niger State. Yet they fail to see the security implications of all these.
“If the governors were serious and wanted to have a lecture on security, they need not have embarked on such a wasteful journey with the accompanying
expenditure of flight tickets, hotels with all their aides and above all the valuable time wasted at the expense of running their states.
“Certainly, they could have gotten more than they wanted from our resourceful institutions such as NIPSS in Kuru Jos or ASCON in Badagry or even NIA.
“These three institutions have more than enough materials, essays and templates on the problems on security in Nigeria more than the farfetched American Institute.
“I blame the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the NIA for failing to properly guide the governors for this folly.
“The governors could not have traveled without the facilitation of the Ministry or our Embassy in Washington.
“Nigeria and Nigerians now carry the image of ‘advancing our shame and embarrassment beyond our frontiers’ caused by their Excellencies!”
“One is inclined to believe Rufai Oseni when he recently said ‘Nigerian madness has no bound or limits
“So in Nigeria today, one’s biggest challenge is how one remains sane in this insane country.”