The governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), a renowned Criminologist, His Excellency, Olorogun Barr. Kenneth Gbagi OON, has said when he becomes governor in 2023, he would face the security crisis bedeviling the state head-on.
Speaking on Wednesday December 28th 2022, with the Bishop of the Diocese of Sapele, (Anglican Communion), Most Rev’d Blessing Erifeta and top clergymen at Christ Church PRO-CATHEDRAL in Sapele, the administrative headquarter of Sapele local government area of the state, the former minister of State for education, said his solution to the problems would be “decisive and immediate”.
While stressing that the security situation in the state has been very worrisome, the security expert said the state government under Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa-led Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) has failed.
The Social Democratic Party’s governorship flagbearer, said there are so many things that he would put in place to stem the tide of insecurity.
As part of his plans, Gbagi said if elected as governor next year, he would pull millions of Deltans out of poverty.
According to him, empowering the masses is the means of solving the security challenges as people would not indulge in criminal activities.
Speaking further, he said that there was need for an economic transformation for the security situation in the state to change.
“To improve the security situation in Delta State, as governor, I will ensure that the economy works and more people are pulled out of poverty.
“The more you remove people out of poverty, the more you reduce criminality. It is critical and important, as long as the economy continues to nosedive like we are seeing today, your criminality will be rising,” Gbagi explained.
Furthermore, he said other measures needs to be put in place including proper man power and standard equipment which would increase productivity.
“I am a lawyer but before been a lawyer, I was a Criminologist. The problem of insecurity here, has affected the economic development.
“I have said that I will pay every unemployed Delta youth N30, 000 from the day I am sworn-in. By the time I am sworn-in, I would have bought computers and distributed to all the local governments before my swearing in.
“And my directive is that every youth should go and register and in the forms that I have designed for that registration, I have categorized what you want to do and what you want to be in the next 40 years.
“As soon as you complete that form and the computer ingest it and you thumbprint, they will start paying you N30, 000 every month, that is because of the failure of government for a long time.
“Now, once I do that, it will go to you. Once we are establishing these companies and I take about 15 percent of our lands to do farms.
“So, as we are paying that N30, 000, I am going to take you out to put you in the farm and they are now paying you between N80, 000 to N90, 000, that N30, 000 will stop.
“It is the duty of government to give employment to its citizenry because if you have employment, there will be peace. So, we are going to do a lot of things and trust me sir, you need some decisiveness in getting things done.
“We must bring our economic life to bear because you must look for one way or the other to feed your stomach and if the only option that is less punishable, because there will be no security.
“All the killings that is happening in Sapele, have they been able to arrest anybody? Because the government and police are negligent, we need to go back to the drawing board”.
Addressing the issue of herdsmen and farmers clash, the blunt security expert, said: “twenty four hours after my swearing in, you will not see cows wandering around in my streets, it will not happen.
“I will build locations across the state where you will take your cows to, you cannot take them into my streets. Cow business will never be a problem to us, it is lack of knowledge and some people who are looking for power.
“So, the issue of security as a Criminologist, I am prepared”, Gbagi, declared.
