Imo State trains 12,000 to tackle insecurity

No fewer than 12,000 people in Imo State have been recruited, trained and posted to Imo Security Network, ISN; Imo Civil Guards, ICG, and Imo Community Watch, ICW.

Special Assistant to Imo State Governor on Security Operations, Sir Victor Anderson Akuchie,

disclosed this during an exclusive chat with Vanguard in Owerri.

“This is part of the government’s ‘youths must work programme.’   Within seven months of their deployment, kidnapping and armed robbery have reduced to the barest minimum,” Akuchie said.

While recalling that there was an upsurge of kidnapping and armed robbery in the past three or four years, Akuchie, however, explained that none of the outfits was in conflict with any of the federal security organisations.

“Our job is to assist the federal security agencies in making the state safe for both residents and those passing through Imo territory.

“Investors can now come and invest in the state,” stressing that the threat of armed robbery and kidnapping is no longer the issue.

“Through working with the police and other federal law enforcement agencies, we will achieve a crime-free state before the end of this year,” Akuchie said.

On the probability that criminals operating in the state had fine- tuned their strategy to infiltrate the ranks of the security outfit, Akuchie noted that in security operation, everybody was a suspect, adding that windows of probation would last between six months and one year.

“Within the period, we will be in a position to unravel people with sinister plans,” Akuchie said.

He recalled that imo Security Network alone flushed out at least 20 people suspected of having ulterior motives for joining the establishment, adding that some of them were already facing prosecution.