The Zamfara Governor lamented his inability as the chief security officer of the state to fully take control of security.
Governor Dauda Lawal of Zamfara State has insisted that lack of political will remains the major challenge facing the fight against insecurity in Nigeria.
Governor Lawal made the remark during the Townhall on Security on Channels Television to mark Nigeria’s 25th Democracy Day on Wednesday.
The Governor was reacting to a poll conducted by Channels Television on X, where 82 per cent of Nigerians voted corruption and political will as the biggest challenge for security agencies in fighting insecurity in the country.
“From my opening remark I told you the major challenge is the political will and look at the answer that Nigerians gave, 82 per cent said political will,” Governor Lawal said.
“That has been the issue, if there is no political will in all these things believe me within a matter of time we will be able to solve all these political challenges in the country.”
Also in the poll, 10.4 percent went for lack of intelligence as the challenge, 3.7 per cent voted for lack of funding while 3 per cent believe it is lack of man power.
The North-Western part of the country is currently one of the main zones suffering from incessant attacks from terrorists and bandits, and Zamfara being one of the states facing these attacks, Governor Lawal has been vocal in demanding for an end to the carnage.
I’m not in control of security
Speaking earlier on the programme, the Zamfara Governor lamented his inability as the chief security officer of the state to fully take control of security.
“By name, I am the chief security officer of my state but when it comes to command and control, I don’t have control over any of the security outfit whether the military, the police or civil defence,” he said.
“They take their instructions from their superiors not from the governors. We don’t have that control, I wish we do have, it would have been a different story.”
He believes the security agencies have all it takes to crush criminal elements across the country if there are no political interference.
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“There is so much political interference in this country.”
“Political interference is the major factor here. If we don’t have that, the military have the capacity to crush anybody. Remember, we do have our forces in Liberia, Sierra Leone and they did very well.”
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