Southeast governors on Wednesday endorsed the community policing model of the Nigeria Police for effective security in the zone.
They rose in Enugu from the Southeast Security Summit, initiated by the Inspector-General (IG), Mohammed Adamu Abubakar, with a communiqué read by the Governor of Ebonyi State and Chairman of the South East Governors’ Forum, David Umahi.
The governors noted the similarity between the contents of the new community policing strategies of the police and their security measures already in place in the zone.
Governor Umahi disclosed he and his colleagues had before the summit a closed-door meeting with the IG at the Enugu State Government House in Enugu, where the police chief explained to them extensively the concept and effectiveness of the community policing in addressing security challenges in the zone.
The governors at the event include: Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu); Willie Obiano (Anambra); Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia State) and Hope Uzodinma (Imo), who was represented by his deputy, Prof. Placid Njoku.
Speaking further, Umahi noted that all security concerns raised by the traditional and religious leaders in the Southeast zone, including those presented by the Imeobi of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, at the last meeting of the Southeast Governors’ Forum, have been addressed in the community policing strategy of the Police.
The governor, who maintained that the people of the zone will begin to see a lot of positive changes as fallout of the summit, pointed out the governors have agreed to invest in social intervention programmes for teeming youths.
He said: “The community policing was proper and explained to us in full details and it is not different from our Neighbourhood Watch and the Vigilante operation, the Forest Guard, the gate keepers, the herdsmen and farmers conflict committees and others.
“And so we saw that this is totally in tandem with what we pray. We decided as your governors to embrace this initiative of community policing, which is an official endorsement in line with what the police and what we are doing to safeguard the lives and property of our people”.

By Chris Oji