Governor canvasses state police for better security

Abia State Governor Okezie Ikpeazu has canvassed decentralisation of the nation’s security architecture and the creation of state police to enable states to tackle their peculiar challenges.

Ikpeazu stated this during a zoom meeting organized by the Abia Media Forum (AMF), stressing the need for the Federal Government to address perceived injustice in the country.

He said there were complaints of unfairness, lopsidedness in appointments, lack of consideration for other stakeholders in the nation’s polity in decision-making and urged inclusiveness of the South East region in key national appointments.

He lamented that the South East region lacked representation in the country’s security architecture, especially during security council meetings and stressed the need for an all-inclusive government to placate agitators.

The governor said the state House of Assembly had enacted a law to ban open grazing adding that the law had helped the state to address herder-farmers clashes in the state.

“We have a law on open grazing. Besides Benue State, Abia was the first to pass the Anti-Open Grazing law in the country. We are tackling criminal herdsmen from other parts of the country and sub-region by enforcing the law,” he said.

He disclosed that his administration was working closely with other states to address insecurity in the region, maintaining that the importance of the Ebube Agu Security Outfit, created by the South East governors, would help to address the security challenges in the region.

“The idea behind the Ebube Agu Security outfit is to collaborate and maximise the comparative advantage in each state of the region, enable the region to procure modern technology to facilitate monitoring of movement of persons and effectively tackle the challenges”.

He disclosed that the security outfit couldn’t have come at a better time and that before Ebube Agu, the state already had the Homeland Security Unit with the mandate to protect life and property of Abia people.

He further stated that the Abia was deepening the Ebube Agu Security Outfit by recruiting citizens at the ward and community levels, who would help in information and intelligence gathering at the grassroots level and that the State would soon organise a stakeholders’ forum which will be attended by stakeholders in the security sector.

On infrastructure development in the state, he said his administration prioritised the people’s needs, adding that the state government was building a dry port at Ntigha in Isiala Ngwa North Council to meet the needs of Abia people.

Explaining that his government usually consider the citizens’ needs before embarking on any project, he maintained that the state’s resources must be properly channeled to address fundamental needs, stressing that the dry port at Ntigha would facilitate ease of doing business in Aba and the entire state.

Ikpeazu pointed out that an Abia airport would not be economically viable presently, insisting that he was not ready to impress people just because some other states in the region had built airports.