A group, Alliance of Yoruba Democratic Movements (AYDM), has called on governors of South West states to set up a regional security Trust Fund to address insecurity in the zone.
AYDM, an alliance of over 130 pan-Yoruba and community-based groups in largely Yoruba territories including Kwara, Kogi, Akoko Edo, and Itsekiri part of Delta State, made the call on Tuesday, in a statement issued and signed by its General Secretary, Mr. Popoola Ajayi, saying that the Fund should be managed by non-state actors selected by each of the six states in the South West.
This was just as the group noted that no single state in the state can resolve insecurity without networking with others in the region, expressing its readiness to collaborate with the governors, security agencies, and other stakeholders to make this Security Trust Fund a reality.
The pan-Yoruba group estimated that the South West States should be able to realise not less than N100billion in the first six months of its launch, saying that the funds should be raised from contributions of state governments,
corporate organisations, Yoruba in Diaspora, individuals, professional and artisan groups resident in the West.
“There are some 60 million people in South West. Every adult from the age of 18 resident in the West should be encouraged to contribute a minimum of N500 to the Fund.
“This will be invested in providing necessary material and training for Amotekun while creating and building a strong Intelligence Bureau that would tackle all varieties of crime in the region,” AYDM said.
According to the pan-Yoruba group, part of the fund should be used to set up security posts in all the borders across the region and also establish a Training School on Intelligence and Counterintelligence, adding that fund would aid the ability of the region to prevent crime before and not after the acts had been committed.
The group, while noting that the West remained the most industrialised in Nigeria and continued “to witness the mass migration of people fleeing from other parts of Nigeria, the Magreb and even Sudan who see the region as economic haven,” expressed deep concern about the rising menace of kidnapping and other violent criminal activities in land and the occupation of arable land by armed groups which had led to food insecurity.
The group, therefore, reinstated its call on the South West governors to take collective proactive measures in securing the region by establishing the Regional Security Trust Fund, arguing that the recent surge in criminal activities, particularly kidnapping, banditry, cultism, cybercrime and drug abuse had raised the alarm bells within the Yoruba communities
AYDM said it recognised the need for a collective effort to address these challenges, expressing the belief that a Regional Security Trust Fund would provide a sustainable and community-driven solution, even as it urged governors in the region to ensure a transparent and accountable fund that would allow Yoruba worldwide to make generous donations.