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  This is the second part of this special series, Nigeria @60: Grassroots Politics As Recipe For National Development And Security. By extant consideration of the variables involved in governance, many Nigerians stand back from participating in any level of governance more than they like to admit. This attitude can be said to have culminated from years of losing faith because of the failure of the individuals, saddled with the tasks of governance and administration of the country. Yet, there cannot be any positives in the nation if Nigerians remain cynical about participating in grassroots politics.
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Role of Community Organising and Local Policing in Security

Community organising possesses the advantage of putting a structure of governance to local communities. This was the form which governance took in post-colonial times. Each micro-community tackled their own issues practically and achieved development through local cooperation of residents. In essence, community policing, in like terms, was suggested as a lasting solution to insecurity in the nation but it was never allowed to fly for fear it might get abused. From intelligence gathering to getting volunteers who have specific knowledge of their locality, security has a chance of improving drastically once the layers of government are ready to support locals with better equipment and law enforcement. In a desperate attempt to cull insecurity in the region, a cluster of states in Southwestern Nigeria have adopted a version of community participation and policing named Amotekun– for securing the suburbs.

Security as a Boost for Tourism, Agriculture and Economic Development

A secure environment is an economically liberated community. There is an evident climb in the number of local jobs in tourism when security is guaranteed. Farmers who have been apprehensive about land cultivation will witness changes once unruly cattle herds destroying farmlands are controlled. Once optimal security is attained in post-independence Nigeria, a significant boost in tourism, agricultural output and job security will be guaranteed for citizens.
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Leaving macro infrastructure to the private sector to drive, alongside myriads of micro developments at the community level should then be the ultimate goal of government. Therefore, it is high time the government stopped looking at national infrastructural projects as the only way out of economic hardship for citizens.

A Clearer Pathway for the Nation

For Nigerians to see evidential integral development in a nation bedevilled with a recurrent crisis, governance must fall back to going local. It will be the tiny pockets of growth witnessed at the community stage that will aggregate into behemoths. This principle is in line with the much-touted devolution of powers from the centre while at the same time giving more deterministic power to local levels of governance. If we would ever return to the worthwhile days of grassroots politics, realpolitik would be the better template which both leaders and the electorate should adopt. Politics should be local after all. That is the stage where Nigerians can tell whether 60-year-old independence has given them a chance in determining what the democratic fate of the 1914 amalgamation should be. Source: Peoples Gazette Featured Image Source: CNN
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This article was first published on 3rd October 2020

adedoyin

Macaddy is mostly a farmer in the day who also dabbles into technology at night, in search of other cutting edge intersections. He's on Twitter @i_fix_you

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