Photo: Former Vice President Dr. Alex Ekwueme with President Muhammadu Buhari
Former Vice President, Dr Alex Ekwueme, amongst other distinguished citizens has commended the new initiative of the Acting Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris on community policing.
Dr Ekwueme made the commendation on Monday during the inauguration of Eminent Persons’ Forum (EPF) at the Prof Dora Akunyili Women’s Development Centre, Awka, Anambra State.
He saw the initiative as laudable.
To him, “it’s something that has been preached for a long time.
“This time, it’s being configured in such a way that the work of crime prevention is not being left for the police alone.
According to the elder statesman, “With the involvement of community leaders, members of the community and local vigilantes, it will optimize the task of crime prevention”, he stressed.
Also the state governor, Willie Obiano, represented by his deputy, Dr Nkem Okeke, noted that security was important for meaningful investment, development and progress to take place in any society.
He described the project as a great idea, urging the public should to avail the police with credible information to optimize their work.
The Police, he noted, “are seen not with the best of intention in society, but they cannot be our perpetual enemies.
“We should see them as our friends; that is the only way they can work harder to protect our life and property”
Also the Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe commended the initiative.
He tasked the police on policing the grassroots.
He said it would be self-deceit to believe that criminals were only seen in the urban areas.
Achebe, who spoke through Chief B.O Adibo, said the urchins today that operate in villages would graduate to big-time kidnappers and armed bandits in the future if not properly handled.
In his address the Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr Sam Okaula said “Eminent Persons’ Forum is one of the pillars of IGP Ibrahim Idris in the realization of the need to carry the people along in policing a complex society such as ours”.
Okaula therefore charged members of the forum “not to hesitate to expose police complicity, compromise, inefficiency, corrupt tendencies or any other act of infraction.
He assured that the IGP had put in place mechanisms to checkmate such unprofessional lapses.
From Chuks Collins, Awka
