- he said years of military deployments, intelligence spending and security initiatives have produced limited results
- the initiative still fails to tackle the most fundamental issue granting full autonomy
- Ubani faulted the focus on state police, military recruitment and federal reforms while the most essential tier remains neglected
Legal practitioner and governance advocate, Dr. Monday Ubani (SAN), has warned that Nigeria’s worsening insecurity will continue to escalate unless the Federal Government restores strength and independence to the country’s local government system.
Eko Hot Blog gathered that he said years of military deployments, intelligence spending and security initiatives have produced limited results because the tier of government closest to the people has been deliberately weakened.
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Ubani, reacting to President Bola Tinubu’s recently unveiled national emergency plan on insecurity, said the initiative still fails to tackle the most fundamental issue granting full autonomy, resources and operational authority to local councils.
According to him, most security threats take root in rural communities, border settlements and inner-city neighbourhoods, yet the councils mandated to identify early warnings and coordinate community responses have been stripped of funds and administrative freedom.
Ubani noted that the state-controlled joint account system has enabled governors to seize council allocations, impose loyalists and reduce the councils to appendages of state executives.
He stressed that national security efforts cannot succeed when local councils cannot repair rural roads for patrol access, install streetlights, support community vigilantes, empower traditional institutions or provide basic surveillance infrastructure.
This governance vacuum, he said, has turned many communities into breeding grounds for bandits and kidnappers.
Ubani faulted the focus on state police, military recruitment and federal reforms while the most essential tier remains neglected. He praised Attorney-General Lateef Fagbemi’s earlier push for Supreme Court interpretation on council autonomy but regretted political interference.
He urged President Tinubu to prioritise direct funding and full constitutional autonomy for councils, insisting that meaningful security progress begins at the grassroots level.
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