Ondo State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu, has declared that grazing routes would not work in Nigeria because the country can no longer continue to live in the past.
He stressed that the country needs a multi-levelled policing with special attention to state police to effectively secure the lives and property of the citizens.
The governor said many states in the country have signed the anti-open grazing laws to protect the people and their means of livelihood. Akeredolu declared that the Western Nigeria Security Network Agency, codenamed Amotekun Corps was effectively filling the vacuum created by the overstretched conventional security agencies, particularly the police in the state.
Governor Akeredolu noted that Amotekun Corps was a product of circumstance, essentially created to fill the obvious security gap in the state for the security of all.
The governor stressed that Amotekun’s efforts with the help of other security agencies have brought relative peace to the state.
He spoke at the Cocoa Conference Hall of the Governor’s office while playing host to the participants of Course 30 of the National Defence College (NDC), Abuja, led by the Commandant, Rear Admiral Oladele Daji.
Governor Akeredolu, who particularly commended the military for ensuring the peace and security in the country, disclosed that his administration had enjoyed necessary support and cooperation from all heads of security agencies in the state including the Nigerian Army, the Police, the NSCDC, the DSS, the NIA and others.
The governor insisted that no genuine herder would graze his herd of cow with AK-47, just as he said any herder who destroys any farmland in the state would be made to pay compensation to the affected farmer.
He also added that Amotekun Corps now engage in road patrol to further ensure the security of lives and property of all residents across the state.
Earlier, the Commandant, National Defence College, Abuja, Rear Admiral Oladele Daji, who lauded the governor for the security and industrial strides recorded so far, expressed confidence that the products of the participants’ research would go a long way in assisting policy inputs towards delivery of good governance and ensure security of the state.
