*Throws weight behind state police
BY DAPO AKINREFON
Immediate past governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, has justified the inclusion of security vote in the nation's constitution.
The former governor also threw his weight behind the clamour for state police, saying it will aid the reduction of crime in the country.
But he regretted that the statute book has clipped the hands of governors to effectively take
charge of security in their states.
The former governor said this in a lecture entitled: "Security vote: Whose security and at what cost?" he delivered to a roundtable organized by the Institute of Directors in Lagos.
He said there was nothing wrong with the provision of security vote for the governors or such
other officers with executive powers but argued that the vote should be properly accounted for.
Daniel noted that security matters are a wide-ranging phenomenon, applying to many things and situations, and under different circumstances.
"The issue of how the so-called security votes allotted to state governors are expended should be
of lesser value. What ought to be of concern to us all, in public discourse, should be the state of our insecurity, and how we should respond to it, at whatever cost", he said.
He explained that state chief executives are usually faced with so many daunting security issues
that are hardly in the public domain.
Vanguard Nigeria