From ODIMMEGWA JOHNPETER, Abuja
THE National Orientation Agency (NOA) has called on residents of Kuje Area Council in the Federal Capital Territory to increase vigilance around their neighborhoods in order to forestall crimes and security threats in the community.
The Director General of NOA, Mr. Mike Omeri made this call during a public sensitization programme on security consciousness organized by the Agency at the Gomo of Kuje’s palace in Kuje.
Represented by Mr. Ado Solomon, Director, Human Resource Management of the Agency, the NOA Director General stressed the need for Kuje residents to know their neighbours and reports suspicious characters to security agencies, pointing out that the rapid development of Kuje from a rural settlement to a town in recent years has the tendency to attract all sorts of characters.
He urged residents to arm themselves with relevant distress call numbers and always keep their phones on and credited at night in case of emergency.
The traditional ruler of the Kuje chiefdom, His Royal Highness, Alhaji Haruna Tanko Jibrin described the security of lives and property of subjects as a paramount responsibility of the traditional institution and expressed his commitment to helping government maintain a peaceful and secure community where persons of all social, political, ethnic and religious leanings coexist without fear or intimidation.
The Gomo of Kuje, however, called on government to provide traditional institutions the necessary support by creating job opportunities for the teeming population of unemployed youths thereby making them unavailable for criminal activities.
It would be recalled that Kuje suffered from twin bomb attacks last month, a situation alien to that community. Resource persons, Mr. David Dogo and Mr. Kayode Bolaji drew lessons from the attacks to school participants on early warning signals and measures to avert security failure in the communities.
Participants commended the effort of NOA at sensitizing the public on security consciousness, asking that such sensitization be continuous. Participants were drawn from among community leaders, security agencies, students, public servants, farmers, traders and voluntary organizations.