Segun Oni, a former Governor of Ekiti State, has called on the Federal Government to scratch beyond the surface and dig deeper towards identifying some fundamental factors frustrating the average members of the society.
Oni said that some of the violent protests, crimes, looting and insecurity witnessed in the country were consequential results of bottled neck anger and frustration among the people, hence it must be tackled headlong.
The former governor who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria, in Ifaki-Ekiti country home on Tuesday, however condemned the wanton destruction of public assets and cultural heritages irrespective of any guise.
The former Governor affirmed that the #EndSARS protest had identified a critical factor which has to do with the unprofessional activities of the police urging the government to take a holistic examination of the sector and address all irregularities that may be identified and reorganize the force to meet up with modern-day practice across the world.
He noted that the action of the police was also not far fetch from the frustration associated with the job such as poor remuneration, inadequate training and working tools, under staff among others.
“I see too many angry faces, I see too many frustrated persons I see too many youths walking on the street with no hope, “I am worried,” he said.
We must begin to find out what the problems are and make necessary corrections immediately, not cosmetic solutions but critical thinking to put an end to whatever is troubling people.
“The period of youth is the most productive of anybody’s life, majority of people who won great laurels got it while they were young if people like Wole Soyinka had waited to this time before struggling he would not have done much.
“When we continue to waste the time and talents of youths then we are wasting a nation, we have to identify some fundamentals we are not trying to channel energy at making the future better at all, we need critical thinking, the government must get think thank people to do a great job in identifying our major problems.
“The police have been identified by the #EndSARS youths as a compartment of frustration, while don’t we look at this area first, why don’t we find out what is responsible for the brutal actions of the police? What is it that id frustrating the policemen? in what way are the policemen frustrating citizens?
“Because of the frustration and pressure on our policemen they believe they can vent their anger on anybody they can, so it is a vicious circle the issue is that too many people are frustrated too many people are angry too many people are venting their anger not necessarily knowing who or what their frustrations are because they may not even be able to identify who is troubling them but they know they are troubled and they want to transfer aggression.
Venting their anger also does not mean they have done it right, burning houses burning public utilities that the government had acquired with money is not right. But in Psychology, it is said that when an object is frustrated it will lead to aggression and the aggression will be directed at anything that is near.
“If Policemen do not get the good salary they will not give better service, If you have the police force you must cater for them and place them on the minimum and provide them with modern technological devices by so doing we can then demand integrity from them we can then demand competence from them.
Oni said if he had his way, he would employ double the existing number of police in the country.
He stressed the need for government to create more jobs and get youths engaged noting that such would reduce their involvement in the crime.
However, Oni explained that such employment should be done out of merit without preference for anyone based on religion, political and ethnic differences.
Speaking on the crisis in the Ekiti PDP, Chief Oni said there was little to what could be done because the case was already in court, but affirmed that at the appropriate time, everything will fall in line and be at the best position to take over governance from the APC in the state.