ODAHIEKWU OGUNDE, Yenagoa
The Bayelsa State Government has sought better synergy with the traditional rulers in order to build a more secure and peaceful state.
The Deputy Governor, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, made the appeal on Saturday at separate meetings with traditional rulers from Brass and Sagbama local government areas in Government House, Yenagoa.
Ewhrudjakpo said the role of traditional rulers as custodians of peace and security in their areas could not be overemphasized at a time when criminality had risen everywhere in the country.
He pointed out that the Douye Diri administration had an irrevocable commitment to revamp the traditional institution to give them the needed impetus to perform their role as agents of peace and development.
Ewhrudjakpo informed the royal fathers that the local government councils had been directed to pass bye-laws that would legalise the setting up of vigilance groups in all the LGAs of the state in view of the growing security concerns.
He clarified that the funding of the vigilance groups would be jointly borne by the state government and the local government councils.
According to him, the government has also directed councils to enact bye-laws banning the movement of speedboats without official security permit along the rivers and creeks within the state after 7pm.
He appealed to the traditional rulers and the public to participate actively in the town hall meetings and public hearing on the proposed bylaws in their LGAs and make necessary inputs.
Responding to some complaints bordering on inter-local government boundary disputes in the state, Ewhrudjakpo called on all communities having boundary issues to forward them to the Bayelsa State Boundary Committee for arbitration.
He said the state government through its boundary committee would swing into action as soon as petitions were received.
He appealed to communities having such boundary problems not to take laws into their hands.
He urged council chairmen to hold regular security meetings with stakeholders including the traditional rulers in their areas.
To this end, he directed the Ministry of Local Government, Chieftaincy and Community Development to get the monthly security meeting reports from the eight councils and convey the same to his office accordingly.
In their separate remarks, the Amayanabo of Twon-Brass, King Alfred Diete Spiff, and the Ibenanaowei of Ibeni-Oyiakiri, King Joshua Igbagara, thanked Ewhrudjakpo for the regular meetings held with traditional rulers in all the LGAs across the state.
The monarchs, however, appealed to the government to provide the necessary logistics they needed to function effectively.
They cautioned that the vigilantes to be set up should not be allowed to be hijacked by politicians for their selfish interests.
Also speaking, the Commander of NNS Soroh, Commodore Peter Effah, said the Nigerian Navy was taking proactive steps to beef up security in the waterways following the flag-off of “Exercise Still Waters” in the state..
He, therefore, appealed to the people to provide real time intelligence to the security forces to enable them to combat and contain all forms of criminality on the waterways.