Security, top priority in Yahaya Bello’s administration – CPS

NEWS DIGEST - Kogi State government has implemented deliberate reforms and policy actions introduced by Governor Yahaya Bello to arrest the tide of insecurity in the state, Onogwu Muhammed, the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, disclosed.

The CPS, who made the disclosure in a chat with the News Digest, recalled that last year the governor recruited about 6,000 vigilante security personnel in the state.

According to the CPS, each of the vigilante members received a motorcycle, and have been mandated to interact with people in rural communities, so as to gather vital information for analysis and prompt response by mainstream security agencies.

"Securing lives and properties is the most fundamental responsibility of any government. And that, exactly, is what the Governor Yahaya Bello-led administration is doing in Kogi State.

Mr Muhammed added: "The streams of successes recorded in the area of security have attracted accolades and commendations for the State Government, from prominent persons and institutions across the country.

"The State Government has spent a lot on security in the last three years.

We procured and distributed over 155 patrol vans, together with motorcycles to various security outfits.

“Governor Yahaya Bello has also enhanced the allowances of various security personnel serving in the State.

“These are strategies that have helped to boost Intelligence gathering," he said.

"Before the advent of this government, Kogi State was the hotbed for all sort of crises, and crimes.

"There were incidences of kidnapping in the State. It even became so worse that a serving commissioner, under the then PDP-led administration, was kidnapped.

"The kidnappers did not also spare our traditional rulers. They were responsible for the murder of a prominent Igala traditional leader in 2014.

"But, presently, residents of the state now sleep without being apprehensive of criminal elements attacking them or invading their homes, either in broad daylight or at night.”

https://newsdigest.ng/state-news/2019/09/16/governor-bello-recruits-vigilantes/