Group Tasks Govt On Small Arms Proliferation

A Port Harcourt-based Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Advocacy for Peace, Social Justice and Good Governance has called on federal and states governments to check the proliferation of small arms in the hands of the citizens.
The Secretary of the group, Mr Okoha Chinonye, who stated this during a workshop organised in Rumuodomanya, headquarters of Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State last Saturday expressed regrets on what he described as unlawful possession of firearms by members of the public.
Okoha, in a lecture titled: “Peace: Recipe for Development “, urged Nigerians to embrace peace in order to move the country to the next level.
He said that his organisation had been preaching the gospel of peace to young people in the state.
Okoha said that the youth as the leaders of tomorrow could not afford to squander their future on unreasonable and reckless ventures.
He said cultism, armed robbery and kidnapping were wreaking havoc on the lives of youths of the Niger Delta region.
Okoha remarked that parents were not doing enough to check the activities of their children and explained that the nuclear family had a lot to do in the society.
He advised fathers to take the upbringing of their children seriously in order to check the ills plaguing the society.
He blamed governments at all levels for not being proactive in the security of lives and property.
According to him, “the primary function of government is to maintain law and order. Any government that fails to do that has failed from the very beginning”.
Okoha urged the public to continue to spread the gospel of peace and noted that government needed to move in that direction.

Chidi Enyie