South West speakers conference charges States to purchase surveillance equipment, work together on security

The Conference of Speakers of the South West region has risen from its meeting held in Ibadan at the weekend to commend the efforts of the state governments within the region in addressing the issue of security challenges across the South west.

The Conference headed by the Speaker of the Ondo State house of Assembly, Oleyelogun Bamidele, said it is pleased that efforts being made by the State governments in addressing the Security challenges across the region are yielding fruits.

It Called on the Federal Government to take more proactive measures to address the issue of insecurity adding that identified perpetrators must be brought to justice to discourage re-occurrence.

The conference urged the States of the region to come together to procure Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (Drones) and at least 3 helicopters for surveillance of the entire region.

It added that States within the region should adequately empower forest rangers to embark on aggressive patrol of the forests to enhance the security architecture of the region.

The forum also called for the strengthening of the law establishing the Western Security Network also known as Amotekun corps to give room for the employment of able bodied unemployed youths to help in information gathering, surveillance and intelligence.

The Forum also called for the establishment of State Police and a South West Security summit to bring to fruition the suggestions.

The Forum also commended the Federal and State Governments efforts aimed at addressing the Covid-19 pandemic urging citizens across the country to continue to follow the prescribed measures to ensure that their is no third wave of the virus in the country.

It concluded by asking all the State assemblies within the region to enhance cooperation between them for continued development of the region.