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Former Governor of Anambra State, Chris Ngige, has explained why he employed individuals perceived as “bad boys” during his administration, saying it was a deliberate strategy to tackle insecurity in the state.
Naija News reports that Ngige, a trained medical doctor, said the move was aimed at curbing the rising wave of criminality and lawlessness in the state at the time.
Speaking in an interview in Abuja, the former Minister of Labour and Employment under the Buhari administration stated that he utilised his security votes effectively for the safety of the people, rather than for personal comfort or political patronage.
He said, “To secure your place is money, and that is why the originators of budgets did what they call security votes. But many governors and Chief Executive of states and even their deputy think that Security money is pocket money, no.
“I’ll give you a typical example. I took a bill to Anambra State House of Assembly in 2003 as I come for vigilante services in every community, AVS bill, they passed it because before them, me and them have had a brawl over kidnapping me and not kidnapping me and resigning and not resigning but we became friends. We bond together now, we eat together. We eat dinner together two times a month, and we discuss everything about the state. So they passed it.
“So each community in Anambra State then we told them to go and give us men, as a matter of fact, give us those who are bad boys, write out the names of the bad boys separately, and then write out the names of those you want us to employ.
“They wrote them, so we gave employment to all of them and brought the bad boys and said, look, you people are bad boys, look at the list, any false movement, you are dead, but you owe us a duty to show us other bad boys, even those who have committed crime here and run out of the state.
“And they complied, and we paid them handsome amount of money, 30,000 Naira in 2003, 2004, 2005. That 30,000 Naira is the equivalent of about three million now. We paid, we gave them food two times a day. We provided them busses. We provided them recharge card money, so the people were ready to defend their state.
“In fact, when my police were withdrawn, they made their security available for me they did. They secured their state. Sometimes they go on operation to Aba (Abia State) to hotel and we go and catch people who have committed one offense in Anambra before. That is what security fund is all about. But many governors don’t spend security votes. It’s pocket money for them, it’s money for buying property.”
The post Why I Employed ‘Bad Boys’ As Governor – Ngige appeared first on Naija News.
