Insecurity: FG should repay N3tr to Northern states—Usman Faruk

Alhaji Usman Faruk, a retired Assistant Commissioner of Police and former military governor of the defunct North-Western State, is now a delegate at the on-going National Conference. In this interview with Daily Trust, Faruk speaks on the security challenges in the country, and says 18 northern states affected have spent over N3 trillion and needed to be reimbursed by the Federal Government.

 
What would you say about the costs of containing insecurity among northern states?
As the leader of the Gombe State delegation to the National Confe-rence, I wrote in my presentation that my people from North-East, North-West and North-Central are suffering, because the states are spending a lot on security equipment, vehicles, allowances, fuel and lots more. And this is something that is on the exclusive legislative list which is reserved only for the Federal Government. The states do not have anything to do with security expenses but they are now spending hugely on security.
Indeed after the Gombe bomb blast, the governor made me the Chairman of
the probe panel and after the chairmanship of the Northern Development Focus Initiative (NDFI) summit in Kano, I investigated and found out that Northern states are spending staggering amounts of money on servicing security personnel and allowances unnecessarily. The money meant for the development of both urban and rural areas is being wasted while the Federal Government is running away from its responsibility of spending money on security from the defense budget amounting to trillions on naira. My state of origin Gombe has spent a lot of billions in the last three years alone. The 18 Northern states, excluding Kwara State, have spent about 3 trillion on security on behalf of the Federal Government
 
Does that mean that the Federal Government is not adequately financing the security agencies to fight insecurity in the northern states?
The Federal Government is allegedly forcing the states to spent money on everything that the constitution has saddled the Federal Government with. Some states bought 15 and others less, depending on the intensity of the security, armoured personnel carriers worth millions of naira, Hilux vans, fuelling, allowances of military, customs, immigration, and other paramilitary attached to the operation. When a prison or a police station is attacked, the governors will aid financially in reducing the impact of the attack, as waiting for the Federal Government may worsen the situation and the repairs will take a year as they will say they have to wait for the budget. It is wrong for the Federal Government to be punishing the states unnecessarily. It would be recalled that late Umaru Yar’Adua was reimbursed by the Federal Government when he built the Katsina Airport on behalf of the Federal Government. This is why we want the Federal Government to pay back the amount spent by states on security for them to develop their respective states. As when Yar’Adua was the President, he took federal money to resettle Niger Delta militants and the country at large.
 
What is your experience, as you were a governor when Nigeria was fighting the civil war then?
When I was a governor, we were trying to be just. But now when an attack occurred and the governor informed the security to respond, they would say that they don’t have a car, fuel among others. That will compel the governor to source for money, because he was under pressure.

Does this means sabotage against the states by the Federal Government?
The normal system is if the government has spent money on emergency need on behalf of the Federal Government, the state will later be reimbursed with gratitude. The governor writes and then receives his payback accordingly. This is now setting the wheel of developing the North and particularly the North East because of deceit and ill-will deliberately.
 
Do you mean this is starving the Northern governors of funds to develop their states?
They are paying salaries, while their campaign promises were unfulfilled, but they are still doing Federal Government responsibilities. This is seriously disturbing the Northern governors. The worst affected states are those of the North-East, especially Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, followed by Gombe, Bauchi, Kano among other 18 states and Abuja, all in the North.
 
How can security be restored and sustained?
Before the reform of the security, the Federal Government should reimburse the money spent by these Northern governors first for they to win the confidence of the people by developing their states. Lack of security and development is destroying the respect of the people on the present government.
 
Will the National Conference outcome be of any benefit to the populace?
If the corrections of the anomaly being perpetrated on the citizens are not urgently addressed. The national conference is absolutely rubbish and so will be its outcome, as it can only be equated to a mere ‘tea party’. As the North has been bastardised by the Federal Government, as the governors wade in to impress the Federal Government but they have been fooled and deceived.  The people of the North have been subjected to continuing hardship as the security of the region has not improved. The Federal Government should wake up from its slumber and know that even if is it working, more is expected for peace to be and be sustained.
It is high time for the people to know that the shortage of fund by the governments of the North is characterized by the diversion of fund for development on security. The affected Northern states should compile all the costs they had incurred for the Federal Government to pay them back immediately as the budgeted money on security is still available for the development of their states and the country at large. I believe the money is into trillions of naira for the whole northern region. And the amount is much