GOVERNOR Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State has attributed growing insecurity in the country to what he called faulty structure of the Nigeria Police Force.Besides, he also flayed the current revenue allocation formula, which he said is skewed in favour of the federal government, thus incapacitating states and local government from effectively implementing programmes that could positively affect lives of the people.The governor, while delivering a paper entitled, 'Making Progress in the Midst of Challenges: the Nigerian Example' at the 13th Foundation Day Lecture of Igbinedion University, Okada, Edo State, noted that a police force that is alien to a community could not be effective.'Our police should be community-based. The way to efficient policing should include elements of state police, moderated by checks and balances to curtail abuse by state governments,' he said.Ajimobi said that the current federal structure is weak and defective, stressing that 'the distribution of powers and resources is such that as a people, we are not encouraged or empowered to be the best we can'.The governor, who said that the federal government is at present saddled with numerous responsibilities that could be better handled by state governments, added that the logic of distance from the grassroots and the need for bottom-up development dictates that such responsibilities as maintenance of township roads, control of ecological problems, traffic and highway control are better handled by states rather than the central government which today struggles to discharge them.'The present revenue allocation formula which leaves 52 per cent of national resources at the disposal of the federal government and a paltry 24 per cent for 36 states does not acknowledge the need for the country to make progress in the midst of crisis.'The states are where the challenges are. The states, more than the federal government, know where the proverbial shoe pinches. All such issues as poverty alleviation, agriculture, housing, transportation and urban development are challenges that the states confront daily. The allocation of resources should reflect this reality if we are to overcome many of the challenges we face,' he argued.Ajimobi also stressed need for government to pay special attention to the youths, whom he said constitute more than 65 per cent of the nation's population.'We cannot pretend that all is well when our army of teeming youths are unemployed. As long as hungry men remain angry men, so will the army of unemployed youths constitute a time bomb for the country'.
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