Lalong: Nigeria needs improved manpower, technology to address insecurity

Simon Lalong, former governor of Plateau, says the federal government needs to invest in technology and recruit more personnel to tackle insecurity in Nigeria.

On Wednesday, Tinubu added 19 names, including Lalong, to the list of ministerial nominees sent to the senate for screening — six days after forwarding the first 28 names to the parliament.

Speaking on Friday during his screening at the senate, the former director–general of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential campaign, said traditional rulers have an important role to play in securing the country. 

Lalong said he would reintroduce the bill that gives traditional rulers the constitutional right to address security challenges in the country if given a defence portfolio.

“It was under my watch that we produced a document which we thought was going to form part of the constitution amendment to allow traditional rulers to be part of addressing security issues in Nigeria,” he said.

“The second one, it is a long time since we did recruitment within our security. We need manpower but we also need technology. You need humans to man this technology.

“The capacity of the manpower of the armed forces must be improved. There must be training and retraining and provision of technology. The security is very important. If we don’t have security, we won’t have development.

“The bill on traditional rulers that was kept out would now be introduced again. Issues of security should be seen to be very important. We must also attend to local issues, like ethnoreligious crises. The only way to solve this is dialogue and not shooting.”