The President of the Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Kaduna State Chapter, Mr Rayyanu Turunku, says insecurity has been a major hindrance to the productivity of local government workers across the state.
Turunku said this at a security meeting organised by a Civil Society Group, “ Make Kaduna Better Youths Initiative,” held at its Secretariat, yesterday in Kaduna.
Turunku noted:” Most of the local government workers and their families were affected by kidnapping and other forms of insecurity in the state which hampers their activities. “
According to him, the most worrisome trend faced by the local government areas across the state was the issue of informants.
“Our major problems are not even the bandits, because they usually don’t have information about communities they attack, the people giving information and directing targets to them are our major issues, because we live with them and can’t identify them.,” Turunku lamented .
He commended the security personnel on their roles in tackling the menace and called on them to do more in protecting the lives and property of the people.
The NULGE president also urged the security agencies to have mutual relationships and understanding with the locals and voluntary security outfits across communities, for ease of operations.
“Although the local security outfits have limited roles in security operations, they should be empowered and encouraged by the government to do more in providing information to security personnel on advent of likely threats to communities,” Turunku said.
Earlier, the Commisioner of Police in the state, Mr Mudassiru Abdullahi, assured respective traditional institutions and people of various communities of an improved secured atmosphere in the state.
Represented by the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), of Sabon Gari Division, CSP Abdullahi Yusuf, the commissioner pledged to deploy more security personnel,to curb the recent upsurge in communal disputes in some villages.
The police boss used the opportunity to call on people in the state to embrace dialogue in attaining peace, saying,” it is priceless.”
He further maintained:” No society develops in an atmosphere of rancour and apprehension thus, considering the communities as agrarian settlements, the need to ensure peaceful coexistence can never be overemphasised, especially amidst the current farming season.”
Abdullahi noted that, the police command would continue to work with special constabularies, towards achieving the objective of peace,as well as sustainability, for meaningful development in the state.
He urged the people of Kaduna state to be peaceful and law abiding, noting that, violence does nobody any good .
Also speaking, the convener of “Make Kaduna Better Youth Initiative,” Mr Samaila Sammani, said that, the meeting was to discuss and proffer youths-based solutions to the issues of insecurity in Kaduna state.
“The Kaduna State Government is trying its best on tackling issues of insecurity, however, we as youths have greater roles to play in curbing the menace,” he said.
He called on the Kaduna state government to see the need of including the youths into the security committees in the state.
Sammani also called on the public to help the government in tackling insecurity by reporting suspicious movements of strangers and people in communities to the appropriate authorities.