A former governor of Lagos State and national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has discouraged the use of force alone in solving security problems in Nigeria, saying problems that are essentially of economic origin must also have an economic solution.
While speaking Saturday as the chairman of the 11th annual lecture in honor of Sir Ahmadu Bello at the Arewa House in Kaduna, he said: “Enhanced security may be the necessary first step, but it cannot be the only step. We cannot resolve this problem by holding on to one-dimensional answers.”
“We must all be dispassionate in our search for a solution. These challenges are multi-faceted and so shall the solutions. The issues of insecurity, poverty, unemployment and extremism have many things to do with governance, over time. At bottom, we must tackle our deep and widespread poverty.”
According to him, “Fiscal wisdom but not necessarily austerity is required for the Nigerian economy at such a time to ensure equitable wealth redistribution and meaning.”
He said this means that the government must not be afraid to embark on an activist fiscal policy to create jobs, build infrastructure and develop the industrial sector as well as continue to improve agriculture.
In his lecture on: “Reduction of the Cost of Governance for Inclusive Growth and Youth Development in Northern Nigeria in a Post-COVID-19 era,” Chairman, Northern Governors Forum and Governor of Plateau State, Simon Bako Lalong, said high cost of governance has worsened the standard of living in Northern Nigeria and called on all tiers of government to as a matter of urgency cut down on the high cost of governance.
According to Lalong, factors such as corruption, insecurity, large numbers of government appointees, high salaries, among others are some of the factors that drive the high cost of governance in the country.
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