• Restates commitment to state police
• Veteran actor tasks S’West govs on food security
Yoruba Diaspora organisation, Yoruba One Voice (YOV), has applauded the six South-West governors for throwing their weights behind restructuring to regionalism.
YOV, in a statement by its General Secretary, Adedokun Ademiluyi, said the new development had shown that the governors are ready to work on the mandate given to them to move the region forward by providing an enabling environment that would enhance growth and development across the region.
“Nigeria is currently confronted with various challenges, resulting from the fundamental issues involving the structural defects of the Nigerian nation.
“The clamour for restructuring to regionalism has continued to take the centre stage of our national discourse because of the obvious challenges emanating from the structure of this country.
“However, the spate of insecurity across the country has remained a hard nut to crack, especially for the Federal Government even as the state governments have been so helpless in the face of the security scourge.
“From Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East, to terrorism, banditry and kidnapping in the North-West and North-Central; and the rise of separatist movements in the South-East, the security apparatus of Nigeria is under immense pressure.
“With these challenges, the need for restructuring to regionalism is very pertinent and the call for state police is very urgent.
“It is on this note that the Yoruba One Voice has continued to call for restructuring to regionalism as the best approach to solving the structural deficits of the country.
“As far as we are concerned, we believe in the unity of the Yoruba. We commend the South-West governors for the adoption of a Yoruba Unity Anthem for the entire South-West.
“The anthem was originally composed by the late Obafemi Awolowo in 1978 but it was first adopted by the Osun State government under former Governor Rauf Aregbesola, while it was later adopted by the Ondo State during the administration of the late Rotimi Akeredolu till date.
“There is no better time other than now for us to create an enduring synergy that will strengthen the bond among the state governors, and also reinvent the spirit of Omoluabi that the Yoruba all over the world and most especially in the South-West region are noted for.”
Ademiluyi further noted that YOV would remain a formidable voice in Nigeria.
MEANWHILE, a veteran Yoruba actor, Lere Paimo, popularly known as Eda Onile Ola, has urged the South-West governors to collaborate and take measures to restrain killer-herdsmen to ensure food security in the region.
Paimo, the Oyo State-born Nollywood actor and a national award holder, who made the plea in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), yesterday, in Lagos, spoke on the way out of the current socio-economic, inflation and food crisis in the country.
The octogenarian said that with adequate security, infrastructure, and motivation for farmers, the South-West can feed its people and the entire nation. The actor advocated ranches for herders as part of efforts to turn around the current food crisis.
