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By Joel Anekwe
The Rivers State Police Commissioner of Police, Mustapha Dandaura, has said that an insecure environment scares away investors and consequently gives rise to poverty, criminality and underdevelopment.
He said that insecurity in a society is a function of disobedience to law and order adding that “it is the duty of everyone to acknowledge the duties of one another and respect one another for a secured society.”
The Police commissioner while speaking at the 3rd Police Community Forum/Award Ceremony organised by Police Community Relations Committee Old GRA, Port Harcourt Division at the weekend noted that “it is when people fail to recognise their limitations as stipulated by law that we begin to to suffer insecurity.”
Speaking on the theme: ‘Security, Everyone Business,’ Dandaura said: “Security has gone beyond the shores of the security agencies and involves everyone who believes in peace, law and order. Everyone is a security stakeholder.”
The Rivers State Police boss who was represented by the area commander, Port Harcourt Metropolis, ACP Bassey Ewang, further noted that “there is nothing more essential to mankind than security, as one must be secured before he begins to pursue any other thing.
“Everyone is a security asset and a security operative. The police needs your help, we need your support, we need your cooperation,” he said, assuring utmost confidentiality in handling any information to the police on security.
He further said that “Nations recognize the importance of security in its orderliness and general well-being. It is to protect all sectors of the economy, everyone needs it to exist.
“If security is left in the hands of the security agencies alone society will remain precarious and challenging. An insecure environment scares away investors, giving rise to poverty, criminality and underdevelopment.
“It is gratifying to know that security in contemporary context is not the exclusive responsibility of institutional security agencies such as the Police, military or para-military. It is everyone’s business.
“It is the policy of the Rivers State Police command to bring response time down to 10 minutes even as we hope we can reduce it to 5 minutes depending on the location you are calling from and if you give us the appropriate address,” the state Police boss said.
In his address, Voke Emore, chairman of the Old GRA Division of the PCRC, said the relevance of the theme, ‘Security Everyone Business,’ cannot be overemphasized considering the rising security challenges facing the government.
“The level of insecurity in our country in general and our neighbourhoods in particular, is pointer that the security of lives and property is a collective one,” he said, adding that “security of lives and property as a collective responsibility has been the focus of the PCRC of this division.”
He observed that the Nigeria Police Force is under-paid, constrained with inadequate manpower and other challenges, and expressed optimism that “every participant will go back home and preach the new collaboration with the police in their immediate environment in order to boost security consciousness in the state.”
