El-Rufai: No development without security

Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has described security as the foundation of development, saying that nothing is possible without some level of security.
El-Rufai made the remarks on Wednesday in Kaduna when members Senior Executive Course 40 of National  Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies visited him.
The group was in  Kaduna on study tour on strengthening security.
He  said the present  administration in the state and national level  have  made significant progress in improving the security environment, but said in spite of the efforts there were still areas of concern.
According to him, in managing security require exploring the root cause and taking effective measures to tackle the challenges.
The governor identified the menace of street gangs, kidnappers, armed bandits as some of the security challenges in the state.
“We have been working with police to curtail that, and also prosecuting offenders with stiffer penalties,” he said.
According to him, the indigene, settler phenomenon has contributed immensely to creating deep division among the people of Nigeria.
“Until we retrace ourselves and move away from that and look at the citizen from what he or she can contribute; we are sad with the way people are now, as the more educated they are the more ignorant they become.”
El-Rufai said the issue of state policing should be looked at again, as it provides a new opportunity to strengthen security in the country.
“There are  nine governors who strongly believe in state police, the current number of policemen in the country is grossly inadequate, there is need to double the number of police personnel.”
He dismissed arguments that state governments would not be able to pay the salaries of the police if created, claiming that the states were responsible for the running cost and overhead of the federal police.
Earlier in his remark, Acting Director General of the institute, Mr Jonathan Juma explained that the visit was to aggregate efforts being made to enhance security in the state.
He added that the participants would make recommendations to government based on the information generated in the course of the study tour.