Security agenda in Delta State has been a wonderful experience since creation, 24 years ago.
The first set of military administrators did their best to ensure that peace prevailed in the state and among its people.
With particular reference, the administrations of former Governor James Ibori came up with five point agenda, including peace and security, which was a huge success.
In the same vein, the immediate past administration of Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, came up with three point agenda of peace and security, human and infrastructural development. Again peace and security topped the table, and was a success story.
When the present administration of Senator (Dr.) Ifeanyi Okowa, came on board, being an experience leader, who has been part of governance of and much at home in the state, with the people at the grassroot, he is abreast with the challenges facing the state.
On his inauguration on Friday, May 29, 2015, at the Cenotaph, Asaba, the state Governor, Senator (Dr.) Ifeanyi Okowa, as a man of destiny who was prepared for governance and who understands the challenges of the state, floated a five-point agenda with the acronyms: SMART upon which to trigger his administration of the state.
The SMART agenda simply means: Strategic wealth creation projects and provision of jobs for all Deltans, Meaningful peace-building platforms aimed at political and social harmony, Agricultural reforms and accelerated industrialization, Relevant Health and Education policies and Transformed Environment through Urban renewal.
According to the governor, “we desire a state where peace and justice reign; Deltans must be prepared to be fair and equitable in our actions”.
The governor said the SMART agenda was designed to create jobs, generate and sustain businesses, stabilize families and communities within the framework of equity, fairness and justice.
It is under this unique platform and well thought out vision that the Okowa administration intend to ensure peace and security for Deltans.
The government believes that a hungry man is an angry person and that, to divert the minds of the youths from crime and reorientate them to meaningful ventures, the government must generate jobs and engage the youths.
A present, the training of the first batch of the agricultural and skills acquisition training programme has kick-started at Songhai Delta, Amukpe-Sapele, with hundreds of youths selected to participate.
At the end of the training, they will be supported by government to start their own businesses and they will in turn, train others, thereby removing them from the streets where they are vulnerable to all kinds of tendencies (healthy and otherwise).
Knowing that without peace, no meaningful development can take place and in order to ensure a sense of belonging and to create harmony among all the ethnic groups in the state, the government has ensured meaningful peace-building through well balanced appointments of government officials. A thorough examination of the appointments made so far, will show that no ethnic group can say 100 per cent, that it has been left out in the scheme of things. This has brought about peace and reduced agitations and clamour that in the past, results in fighting and disunity among the people.
Equally, importantly, the Delta State Government has kept a cordial relationship with all security agencies, including the police, the army, NSCDC, Navy Airforce, immigration and other para-military outfits in the state, including community based vigilante groups.
In the words of the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Alkali Baba Usman, “though we are Federal agencies, we have enjoyed support and cordial relationship from the state government. This has made us to be able to perform our statutory duties because, the government has created the enabling environment for us to fight crime, but as Oliver Twist, we ask for more and urge the state government to sustain the support, because without their support and understanding, it will be difficult to perform our duties” as we are doing now”.
And just recently, the state governor attended a security meeting put together by the south-eastern states and Delta State, where he agreed with other state governors to share intelligence on security matters and to ensure that the states are safe and peaceful for the needed development to take place.
Reports rus from the meeting indicated that the governors agreed to straighten security apparatus and ensure that criminals are made to face the wrath of the law.
From the above, Okowa’s unique approach to security in Delta State is working. Since the take off the government, there have peace among the people and communities and with SMART agenda on course, peace, security, harmony, will continue to increase, by using wealth creation to fight crime, as many youths would be taken away from the streets.
It is in this regard that in his final words during his inaugural speech, Dr. Okowa said, “what is required of us now, is a realization that is going to take us working together to build the state of our dreams, an awareness that the task ahead needs unity, peace and a new spirit of sacrifice, generosity and willingness to accept that we can make a difference in our own corner”
As a man who believes in peaceful co-existence, this is a heart to heart clarion call on Deltans by the governor to embrace peace and unity in our journey to greatness and making history.
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