Anambra state Governor, Charles Soludo, has met President Bola Tinubu behind closed doors at the Presidential Villa.
Speaking to newsmen after the meeting, the governors disclosed that his government has succeeded in dismantling 62 criminal camps in the state since he assumed power.
This came as he maintained that security of the country was not only the responsibility of government but everyone’s duty
Responding to questions on what he intended to do for the full restoration of security in his state following the resolution at the 2-day National Economic Council (NEC) Conference which ended on Tuesday, Soludo said
“Security is everybody’s responsibility and and you can’t tackle it, no one arm of government, not even one community or individual can deal with security. It requires systemic collaborative approach to be able to deal with it in a comprehensive manner and I think we all signed up to it when we took the oath of office. We left the conference, re-energized or invigorated, that we’re all singing from the same hymn book. There was even a panel on security and collaborative arrangements. We met, who appreciate the job of all the armed forces, the police, the army, the DSS, the civil defense, the Navy, the Air Force and and all the paramilitary agencies, as well as our own internal security agencies in Anambra, our own vigilante is called the Agunechemba
They’re working, we have the anti-cult, we have the anti- touting and all the other security outfit. They are working in Anambra collaboratively and very effectively, in my opinion, to stamp out criminality. You know when I assumed office, I mean so far since I came into office about 62 criminal camps have been dismantled in Anambra and we’re not resting, not one second, and Anambra will pride ourselves to be the safest, if not, I mean maybe modestly one of the safest states in the country and so security is key.”
The governor however declined to disclosed whet they did with the apprehended criminals, saying: “I don’t want to tell you the details of what happened to them and the important thing is that the 62 camps have been decimated and they’re not there anymore, and anywhere again they try to settle, we get on there and deal with them decisively. We can’t allow criminality to dominate our place and even more recently, I mean these criminals have held the southeast region hostage and for five years, for more than five years, every Monday there was a criminal, very debilitating, destructive Monday sit at home.
“Schools, aside from the capital cities, you know, the five southeast states, the capital cities, you know, no sit at home on Mondays. But then the rest of the places were mostly under lock and key and this can’t continue. We decided that this year must be an end. Enough is enough and I’m happy that so far we’re taking back our region, we’re taking back our state.”
On the economic cost of the Mondays sit-at-home IPOB order to the south-eastbeefion, Soludo said such could not be accurately calculated but it translated into loss of 20 percent of income to the workforce annually
“You can calculate that if in a year you lose 20%. If you cascade that through the economic front, you’re not just losing income, 20%, but you’re also losing opportunities for growth because some other people are going to divert their businesses and investments elsewhere because you are not open for business, and so you can compound the costs in various ways, socially, economically, politically, not just now, but also in the future, and therefore for us, it’s something that just can’t go on if we value the future of our people. And I think now that they are open, Men’s Market, Onitsha Main Market, more than 45,000 shops.”
The governor disclosed that the Onitsha marker would be regenerated following the cancellation of the sit-at-home order.
“We’re going to regenerate it because it’s been run down so badly.”
