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Speaking at a recent webinar organized by UNUEDO Renaissance, a group of professionals of Edo State extractions from across the globe, participants appreciated the recent establishment by Governor Godwin Obaseki of a Ministry of Public Security and Safety, but called for an overhaul of the existing security architecture in the state to attune it with current global realities.
Various speakers at the event also noted the need for synergy among the government, security agencies and the volunteers in the Edo State Vigilante Network who should be profiled and monitored, besides ensuring that a standard operating procedure is established. This, they noted, will guide their operations and reduce discretion in operations matters to the barest minimum, while making a case for some stipends to encourage members of the vigilante groups. Such stipends, they appealed, should be paid electronically to the bank accounts of beneficiaries.
A statement by Dr. Celey Okogun, publicity secretary of UNUEDO Renaissance, and anchor of the webinar, said participants warned against any plan to profile and register herders in Edo forests.
The webinar, the first in the series, with the theme “Edo State Security: Progress and Challenges,” had as panelists, Mrs. Omololu Ojehomon, the State Commissioner for Public Security and Safety; Mr. William Waba, a Chief Superintendent of Police and Chief Security Officer to the Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki; and the coordinator of the vigilante network, Mr. Oboh Emmanuel Otoide.
Participants charged the commissioner to quickly develop the necessary policy and legislative framework to govern vigilante security operations through an Executive Bill to the Edo State House of Assembly, while ensuring proper management and co-ordination of security fund raising efforts, equipment donations, and other support activities at all levels.
Speaking on the webinar theme, Waba told participants that the governor has continued to partner security chiefs in the state, providing the needed support to enable them fight such violent crimes like kidnapping, banditry, armed robbery, homicide, farmers and herders clashes, land grabbing, and cultism, among others.
So far, he said the governor has distributed operational vehicles to the Nigerian Police and other military and para-military organisations, as well as the vigilante, in addition to gunboats and speed boats to help the marine unit of the Police curb criminality and make the waterways safe.
The governor he said has also created the Edo State Security Network across the 1,293 communities in the 18 local governments, that he said are doing very well, in addition other measure to secure the Benin-Auchi road, following the incessant attacks along the stretch last September.
According to him, “due to the incessant attack by herders, his excellency has established a joint task force operating presently at Ovia and Abudu (Edo South), which is yielding a lot of results, forcing all the herders out of the state and now working on the remnants.
The panelists took turns to address security concerns raised by participants, highlighting measures to make the state safe and secure, while also debunking recent news reports of the existence of 24 kidnapping cells in Edo forests. Wabah, for example, assured that efforts are ongoing by operatives to dislodge the kidnappers, following which there has been no incident reported in recent weeks of heavy combing in the Edo central axis.
Also responding, Mrs. Ojehomon said since its creation, her ministry has been working assiduously to centralize the structure of the vigilante network, while training the operatives.
As part of combatting kidnapping and other crimes, the state government, she said, is improving on the existing calling-in lines for people to report in times of distress while deploying technology to get real-time information. She also noted called on Local Government councils in the state to collaborate by clearing bushes “on both sides of the roads, at least six feet. That way, it is difficult for these kidnappers or robbers to be right there on the road and jump in front of a car and start shooting. You will see them coming and know what to do. We also need clearings around our borders, at least 200 feet, so we can see people who are entering Edo State…”
In view of the expensive nature of security, UNUEDO said the commissioner called for partnership by individuals, group and corporate organization for the setting up a trust that will help actualize the kind of security needed across the state.
“We plan to have a non-state actors’ summit, where we can meet with various groups including the NBA (Nigerian Bar Association), the Nigerian Union of Journalists, the hunters, traditional rulers and everybody who falls into that category, so that we come up with a more effective plan on how we are going to move forward on this,” she added.
Speaking on farmer/herders clashes, Ojehomon said since assuming office, she has moved around to ascertain what is going on, and in the process made some interesting discoveries, like “farmers who don’t know (for example) that their crops have been sold, there are the herders who have been sent to bring the cows to graze in these areas from, maybe December to May or June, or before the rains come. Both parties don’t know what the leaders have done, so we found out a lot and it is difficult to express that here. We are concerned because we don’t want people attacked for giving us the information we can work with… We found out (arrests made) that our own people are involved because they want to make money.”
Welcoming participants to the maiden webinar series, the President of UNUEDO Renaissance, Mr. Nuhu Yakubu, said the aim was to offer a platform for the security personnel in Edo State to discuss developments, and compare notes with indigenes and residents who are at the receiving end of their services. The ultimate aim, he continued, was to enable cross-pollination of ideas towards finding a workable way forward, in a manner that can result in a convergence of thoughts and efforts for the benefit of the state and its people.
The webinar, he continued, was essentially about whether there are identifiable efforts “by the state government as per security in your locality and if that effort is yielding fruits. If it is yielding fruits but not up to the optimum, what do you think is the reason why we are not getting the full benefits of such government efforts, and what can be done? That is essentially what we want to hear from ourselves.”
