Even as CSO, I cannot command a fly to act during crisis – Jang laments enormous presidential

The Governor of Plateau state, Jona Jang, has attributed the current unitary security structure in Nigeria for the unrest currently ravaging his state and other parts of the North.

He made this known at the presentation of his mid-term report of his two years in office for his second term. Jang, who lamented that there was too much power concentration at the Federal level, said that as the chief security of the state, he has no control over any security apparatus.

“Can you imagine, as a governor I cannot command a fly to act during crisis until orders are given from Abuja, Imagine!” he protested.

Speaking further, “If the governors of the 36 states had control over security personnel, the acts of terrorism would be a thing of the past.”

The governor, who is leading a faction of the Nigeria Governors Forum, decried the situation where only the Chief of Defense Staff and the Inspector General of Police have the overall power to give orders to security agents. This, he noted was a major factor worsening the crisis in the Northern region.

Reacting to the regular face-off between his administration and Labour, Jang admonished civil servants in the state, saying their threats of embarking on industrial action shows they were ungrateful. “I begged civil servants that were already on strike to suspend their actions but they refused,” he said.

Labour unions on the Plateau, including local government workers and polytechnic lecturers, often go on strike mostly to protest government’s refusal to pay agreed salary or arrears.

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