Oyo State Governor, Engineer Seyi Makinde has declared Oyo State Security Network Agency code-named Ameotekun Corps Operational.
Makinde made the disclosure on Wednesday at the passing-out ceremony of Oyo pioneer Amotekun Corps at Emmanuel Alayande College of Education Sports Complex, Main Campus, Oyo.
The Governor noted that security has always been a problem , which make security one among the pillars of his administration, stressing that insecure state can never attract investors both local and foreign.
Makinde however said the 2021 budget has been perfected and concluded at the State council level.
He assured that the bill are going to be presented to the State House of Assembly next week Monday. His words:
According to him, “When telling the story of the Western Nigeria Security Network code named Amotekun, it’ll get on record that it had been officially launched on January 9, 2020. However, the Amotekun journey began earlier. In July 2019, the six states of the southwest, namely Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, and Oyo States, agreed to line up this outfit.
“Amotekun is indeed a primary of its kind security agency because it’s a regional security outfit initiated by one among Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones.
“History also will state that the headquarters is here in Oyo State.
Since its founding, we’ve been taking steps to make sure that the safety outfit kicks off operations. In March 2020, the Oyo State House of Assembly passed the Oyo State Security Network Agency Bill 2020, which I signed into law a couple of days later.
“Although COVID-19 and other logistical issues delayed the recruitment process, we ran an open and transparent recruitment process that culminated in announcing the 1,500 successful candidates’ names in October 2020. Shortly then , their training began within the first week of November. Today we are here to witness the passing out parade of the pioneer members of the Amotekun Corps.
“Security has always been a problem on the brink of my heart. While on the campaign trail, I spoke about how we could tackle insecurity in Oyo State. We outlined clear plans in our manifesto, the Roadmap to Accelerated Development in Oyo State 2019-2023. And so, once we came into office, we went ahead to form security one among the pillars of our administration.
“Our actions are supported the very fact that if our state is insecure, we cannot attract investment, whether foreign or local. So far, we’ve supported our federal security outfits, who do their best to guard our people. We provided them with communication gadgets and patrol vehicles. More recently, we requested for and established just this past May 2020, the Police Mobile Force 72 Squadron at Ago-Are and presented them with patrol vehicles for the outfit’s operations.”
“But as I even have argued on various fora, for governors to actually play the role of Chief Security Officers of their states, state policing is that the way forward. i’m confident that someday, we’ll get enough support at the national level to realize that constitutional review.
But, for now, we’ll accept subsequent best thing”.
