Activist and lawyer, Tochukwu Nweke, has condemned the donation of 111 vehicles and 77 motorcycles, equipped with Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras, by Anambra State government to security agencies in the state at the weekend.
Speaking to Newsmen yesterday, he described the gesture as playing Santa Claus by a proverbial mouse.
The vehicles were for monitoring and tracking criminals in the state.
Governor Willie Obiano had while presenting the security apparatuses to the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Abubakar Adamu, at the second phase of ‘Operation Nkpochapu’, also launched the Smart City Security Surveillance System.
The system will complement Federal Government’s security efforts and consolidate Anambra’s status as the safest state and investment hub in the country.
For Nweke, it is an aberration for the state government, which is reportedly burdened with huge debt and unmet responsibilities, to begin to wade into extraneous responsibilities like sponsoring exclusive programmes of the Federal Government.
He said the police, military, civil defence, immigration and others were departments under the Federal Government, which receive yearly budgetary allocations.
The principal of Awka-based Ozo Nweke Ozo Chambers noted that it was an irony for a state government that was asking the Federal Government for refund of expenses it incurred on federal roads, that was using cement to patch state roads and still owing some workers to fund security vehicles.
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“It is not ideal for Governor Willie Obiano to make such a huge gift of security vehicles and gadgets to the Federal Government agencies using state funds.
“It is quite correct that both the state and federal governments have duties to share under the Exclusive Legislative List of the 1999 Constitution; one of such duties is security of lives and property.
“Anambra lacks the fund to embark on this gesture. I am not saying that such assistance is out of place or not important. It is; but we can endure it if the story is that only federal security agencies like the police and National Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) are involved because they are closer to the people,” he said.
The activist wondered why the governor was trying to pour the state’s scarce water into the sea, as “the Federal Government is thinking about high financial budget for the security and law enforcement agencies.”
