Why Amotekun is not in Lagos — DAWN

The Development Agenda for Western Nigeria Commission (DAWN), the initiator of the Western Security Network codenamed Amotekun, has opened up on why the security outfit is not operational in Lagos State.

Disclosing this in an exclusive chat in Ibadan, its Director General, Mr Seye Oyeleye, said the security roadmap, like others, was presented to all the governors in the geo-political zones, but Lagos said it has a similar security outfit.

Oyeleye, while listing out the achievements of the Commission in the past ten years since its inauguration, admitted that this was one of the challenges the Commission faced.

He said Amotekun was formed for effective policing of the region in comparison with what is obtained in the developing nations of the world.

Oyeleye opined that if the security operatives in the region are wearing the same uniform, it will be an added security measure to effectively combat banditry and other vices, but Lagos is a sovereign state with constitutional rights to decide what is good for its citizens.

According to him, When we set up the Western Security Network, codenamed Amotekun, it was meant to be in six states, but it is not. There is still one state that does not have Amotekun.

“They gave us a plausible reason that they have something similar, but you might have thought maybe if we have even for the optics and we have everybody wearing the same Amotekun uniform across the six states, but they gave their own reason why they think they don’t want.

“Till today, people have continued to ask why don’t we have Amotekun in Lagos. I have to explain to them that they have something similar to Amotekun but still not Amotekun.

“But part of our work here (DAWN) is how to solve those contradictions once in a while. There are instances where we have realised that if they decide to work together, it will be for the benefit of the region. But because, as I said, there are contending interests at the time in the respective states,

“Even if you agree that this has to go ahead and one of the states thinks that they want to do this on their own or if one state feels I am too big for that, it becomes more difficult to get them to think along the same lines.

“But overall, we have succeeded in quite a few areas in making them see reason and why it is essential that the six states that are culturally similar, the six states that speak the same language, our territories are contiguous, and it is in our own enlightened self-interest to work together.

"In the areas of budgeting, in the areas of education, in the areas of security, and even in the areas of agriculture, we are coming up with policies at varying degrees that states are implementing just to ensure that there is development in the region.

“Also, one of our major achievements is the enlistment of Lagos State as a member of DAWN. Lagos is probably one of our most important funders.

Without Lagos, only God knows where we would have been. Lagos is fully on board.

He also advocated for more funding for all the states, arguing that it would assist in implementing the laudable projects as proposed by DAWN.

Oyeleye listed the roadmaps to include Southwest rail tracks that will connect all the states in the region and digital literacy to create employment for the people in the region through Foreign Direct Investment

According to him, “There is a critical part of the Digital literacy thing. One of the things that drove us to have the digital literacy document is the fact that when we keep talking of Foreign Direct Investments and you are bringing in companies and industries into your region, you should note that we are in a digital world. A country that used to employ 4000 now employs 400 because everything is digitalized.

“For us to harness the benefits, we must be ready to have a workforce that is in IT compliance.



FI