Former governor of Taraba State, Rev. Jolly Nyame spoke with CHARLES AKPEJI in Jalingo on why dialogue and community police remains vialble options on security. Excerpts:THE low-key celebrations of the nation's 51st independence anniversary have been blamed on the security situation in the country. What do you think is the best approach to the Boko Haram issue'There are basically two approaches that I can suggest. The first is that the communities have to be involved because insecurity can only exist in a particular environment. And if the people involved in that environment are not secured, then there will be problem. The people should be enabled to talk and supported by government. If they talk and they are supported, then they can report the activities of suspects in their environment. The simple truth is that we must strategically police our immediate environment. So there ought to a community driven security project and governments should support it. It could be called state police or whatever.Secondly, there can never be any crime without people behind them. If government is therefore sincere, they should get the people involved. And when they meet those involved, they will understand the motives, which is very important because it will help to forestall future occurrences.You are advocating for state police'If the communities are involved in security then the police will be more effective. It might lead to community policing or state police. I am not trying to promote state police because it has more of disadvantages than advantages. It is better for communities to be involved with the police, except if goes out of hand.Do you agree with those who suggest that the Federal Government should dialogue with members of the Boko Haram'I have said that behind any criminal activities whether it Boko Haram or militancy, there are people in the background. When there was an outbreak of militancy in the Niger Delta, the government got involved. So the Boko Haram issue should not be different. Government should immediately get involved with the people behind it. There are people behind it. If somebody is being threatened or someone's right has been tampered with, definitely somebody will react. A responsible government ought to open up talks.How would you assess President Jonathan'From what I read in the newspapers or see on television, I think he has set up enough programmes in the ministries so that he can have a proper grip of success. He spoke about he plans to handle the energy and harness the oil resources. He has also spoken on how the country will get out of the syndrome of importation. I think he has enough programmes to make him a success and I think he wants to succeed.Specifically, the standard of livelihood is going down. In the family and businesses, activities almost do not exist. In previous years, there were contracts, construction companies working on the roads, etc. Things are not that way today. That is the reason I feel things could be better. If there are contracts market activities will improve because people will go to the market to buy cement, rods etc, and if there are labourers, they will work.I was however optimistic when I heard the position of the President on agriculture. He is trying to target real time farmers in the states. If assistance in terms of relief from government gets to real time farmers, those farmers would help the small time farmers. Because our problem is survival, if we get affordable food in the market, the standard of living or quality of life will improve.What do you make of the criticisms that the president is not doing enough for the country'Any leader will have opposition. President Jonathan should be rugged and not bother about criticisms. If he thinks a policy is right and will serve the interest of the people, he should execute it. No policy is ever divine; it is human driven. If for example, he is able to execute this policy on agriculture many people will benefit except if it is going to be a PDP oriented programme, which I believe it is not going to be. He has made the state governments to do the same thing because I know some farmers met in Jalingo. This is good.Agriculture and energy should be the mainstay of his policies. If he were able to boost food production, he would have solved a larger percentage of the nation's problems. The only way to people's heart is through their stomachs. If a man has enough food to eat and sell, he will be pay for the education of his children, and enough to take care of their health.How did you feel when the Appeal Court brought back for retrial your petition that was earlier thrown away by the election tribunal in Jalingo'I have always had confidence in the judiciary. But just like any other arm of government, you cannot expect perfection because we have human beings there. I knew the day the petition was thrown out that we would come back. We have trust in the petition; we know our rights.There are so many speculations regarding your relationship with the incumbent governor of Taraba. What is the truth about it'No matter what people say, I served the state for eight years. The governor has the responsibility today to run the state and we can only have one governor at a time. I don't have problems with him. At the 20th anniversary of the state, he invited me as he has the right to invite whosoever he wants. He embraced me because he has the right or powers to embrace whosoever he wants to embrace. For me, any time he invites me, I will go because I am a citizen of the state.With your experience in the hands of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), would you say that the ongoing trial of the former governor of Lagos State by the Code of Conduct Bureau is political'I really don't know. It is difficult to say because an incident happened that should be given that kind of interpretation. Tinubu is a chieftain of and only an individual in the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). Of course, an incident like this could distract his attention in building the party, but maybe not enough to weaken ACN. The trial is based on what the government felt says is constitutional because code of conduct is a statutory body that is being enabled by the constitution. I don't know how the issue came to be the way it is. I believed these things would be settled.How will you describe life outside power'So far I have fewer burdens and that is the reason I find enough time to do other things. But it is not easy because people still regard me as a leader and I still feel burdened again because most of them call and I try to find a way of assisting them. So it is like I am resting but I am not resting.With the benefit of hindsight, what would you differently if you have another chance to govern the state'There is nothing spectacular, as I would only build on what I left behind. And it is the same people that I will use. But my perception of the people that I know would be different. So that will give me a better opportunity to get the right people to the right positions. So with what I know now, I think I can put the right people in the right place.Do you have any regrets regarding the people you worked with as it is speculated that most of them have turned their backs to you'I don't have such regrets and I am not disappointed in them because I know people passed through me with the view to learning from me and I never expected that they should always pay me back. Because those that you assisted may think it is their rights. Somebody would say it is because of his qualification and he will not remember his deficiencies.
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