Enugu – Enugu State Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi has reiterated his administration’s resolve to ensure that the state continuous to remain the safest and most secured in the country.
Ugwuanyi, who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Prof Simon Ortuanya, was speaking at the public presentation of the book titled, “Effective Policing and Security in South-East Nigeria’’.
The book, which has three major parts, was written by Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Dr Celestine Okoye (retired).
Ugwuanyi said security of lives and property has remained the primary concern of his administration and the enormous investment in that direction had led to peace and tranquillity throughout the state and its communities.
According to him, Enugu State is the first to implement the Forest Guard after the decision to set-up such an outfit was deliberated within the South-East Governors’ Forum as well as first in the zone to set-up State Community Policing Committee.
“As a government, we take provision of security very seriously as every responsible government will do. In 2018, a study by the Nigeria Police Force declared Enugu State as the safest and most secure state in the country. This has helped to uplift the socio-economic status of the state by improving our rate in the Ease of Doing Business to 5th position in the country. This was also enabled by our decision to digitize the economy and operate Treasury Single Account (TSA) to ensure financial prudence,” he said.
The Commissioner of Police in Enugu State, Mr Ahmad Abdurrahman, said the book was not only about effective policing in the South-East, but would go a long way to provide security solutions to the entire country and Africa at large.
“The author DIG Okoye, being someone who had got years of experience and tour of duty as a police officer within and outside the country, had put down a germane book to help fight insecurity in its entirety within Africa. The book gave a practical and real-time approach on how security challenges can be collectively fought and positive result certained,’’ Abdurrahman said.
Reviewing the book, Prof. Charles Ogbologu represented by Dr Alphonsus Ihenacho, said that the 14 chapter book expressed the various concerns of the South-East people as it concerns the current security challenge.
“The book under review gives an overview of the security situation and how to use community policing and modern technology as well as gadgets to fight insecurity in the zone. The book also educated the citizens on their responsibility for effective policing and what they can do to contribute to security, peace and progress of their communities,’’ he said.
Speaking on the motivation to write the book, Okoye, the author, said it came as a child of necessity.
“If, we sincerely love ourselves, I believe that there would be no insecurity in the first place. When you go through this book, you will know a lot concerning insecurity, even the ones happening in your kitchen,’’ he said.
