Nigeria’s collapsing, pray, we hope God turn things around —Okowa

Delta State governor, Ifeanyi Okowa on Friday, expressed worries over current happenings in Nigeria, saying that the country is in troubled times with a dwindling economy occasioned by various factors, including worsening insecurity across the nation.

Okowa made the statement at the funeral of late Mrs Comfort Nwagimeje at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, Agbor.

He, however, implored Nigerians to be prayerful to save the country.

The governor said, “Pray for our nation because we are in trouble times; the country is insecure and our state is not left out because whatever affects the country affects the states.

“We are in trouble times because many people are hungry and can’t feed themselves, but we have hope that God will take control and change things for the better. Our economy has dwindled and insecurity is further worsening it; we can no longer farm as we used to but we are hopeful that God is able to turn things around for the nation.”

According to him, the government should construct schools near the military camps to avoid attacks by the bandits and others.

The governor gave the advice while speaking on Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) on Friday.

Recall that several schools had recently been attacked by the bandits.

Speaking on efforts by his state to overcome terror by bandits, El-Rufai said the state is not leaving any stone unturned including ensuring budgetary allocations to fence schools.

He said the state needs more troops deployed in affected areas, as the security challenge is beyond the police alone.

“In our view in Kaduna, first (way to address the situation) is to ensure that schools are fenced, because, unless we fence schools, we will give easy access to criminals. So, fencing schools is very important, and that’s a budgetary item; you need money to build fences,” he said

“The second is to have enough (security operatives) on the ground. We must have more civil defence (officers), more private security guards, more vigilante people in the schools, and watchtowers so that any threat of abduction can be seen in good time so that you can call for help.

“The third is to look at schools and to ensure that they are located no farther than 30 minutes from military installations because what we are facing with the bandits is beyond the capacity of civil defence and police. We need the army, the air force and navy special forces.

“We have looked at the pattern of abduction in Kaduna and Zamfara, and have come to a conclusion along with armed forces that if the army, air force and navy special forces can get to the location of the schools within 30 minutes, their (bandits’) operations can be foiled.

“Another thing that we have noticed is that these bandits attack rural schools. They often operate at night and they prefer boarding schools. So, that reduces the number of schools we have to protect,” he said.