Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor, has pledged military’s readiness and commitment to partner with Enugu State government towards security of life and property in the state.

This was as the state governor, Dr. Peter Mbah, identified insecurity as major obstacle to his administration’s agenda to raise the state’s economy from current $4.4 billion to $30 billion.

Irabor said the hierarchy of Nigerian military services was impressed by the governor’s bold security measures, assuring that they would play their part in encouraging socio-economic development of the state by enhancing internal security.

The military chief stated this during a courtesy call on the governor when he met with critical stakeholders at the Government House, Enugu, yesterday. He said he was in the state for a review of the impact of security efforts by the military.

Irabor said: “Your bold statement on security synchronises with our efforts towards ending insecurity. We came to appreciate you for that, and to let you know that such steps fall within our purview, and that every stakeholder will support it.

“We are here to assure you that the armed forces and security agencies will give you all the needed support.” The military chief appealed to traditional rulers, civil society organisations (CSOs), town unions and all stakeholders to work in synergy with the governor and security agencies to ensure security of life and property, as no single body or individual could do it alone.

On his part, Mbah, who identified insecurity as the big elephant in the room, appreciated the Chief of Defence Staff and security agencies in the state for rising to the occasion in the state’s efforts to encourage productivity and enhance security of life and property.

The governor said: “We promised our people that we are going to do things differently, growing our economy in an unprecedented way from $4.4 billion to $30 billion. But this requires making tough decisions.

“We identified the elephant in the room, being insecurity and its impact psychologically, economically and socially on our people.

“We can’t adopt the current financing model if we must grow the economy exponentially. It has to be private sector driven, and one of the indicators of the Ease of Doing Business is security. We have to secure our state, ensure our people work five days in a week to convince them of our state’s viability.”