From Jeff Amechi Agbodo, Onitsha
In an effort to chase away criminals and reduce criminal activities, the Chairman of Idemili North Local Government Area, Chief Ralph Asha Nnabuife has refurbished the police patrol van of the divisional police station.
Nnabuife while handing over the refurbished vehicle to the Divisional Police Officer, Mr. Mark Ijarafu, said he took action to complement the efforts of Governor Willie Obiano in the provision of adequate security for the people of the state.
“We know the importance of security in Anambra State, especially now that we are preparing for election, it is very important and we know the difficulties faced by the police. So, we did this to assist the police in the work they are already doing in this area. Idemili North LGA is a local government that is very close to Onitsha and due to the influx of people from Onitsha it makes this place a crime prone area.
“The governor has been doing his best in the area of security; all we are doing now is try to augment what the governor has been doing to the police to assist police too, to make the work a little easier. And we are recognizing the fact that the DPO is a very hardworking person; since he resumed duty, the local government has changed in terms of policing and so we need to support him that is why we took it upon ourselves to make sure that we refurbished this vehicle to assist them in their job.
“We changed the engine, the seats, repaint it and put it in this form because it was completely down before now because of enormous task they used this vehicle for. The work of police is not easy, they enter every corner and streets and you know that some of the roads are not too good, atimes they run after criminals, so their vehicle is always prone to damage.
“The vehicle will enhance their job. We are always there to assist the police as far as we have the resources because we know the security challenges we face in Idemili North even though the governor is doing a good job in the areas of security and we are grateful to him, so any area we can be of help to the police we will do that. We thank Governor Obiano for prompt release of fund that helped in carrying out this project and other projects in the council area,” Nnabuife said.
CSP Ijarafu commended the council boss for putting security as his first priority by rendering assistance to the police, saying that security was not only for the police or other security agencies in the state, but everybody’s business.
According to him, “when I came to this division the vehicle was almost a scrap, so I contacted the local government chairman who decided to come to our aid by refurbishing it like this. He changed almost everything in the vehicle, including the engine, he bought a new engine for the vehicle.
“The vehicle will go a long way in assisting us towards crime control. I will always seek for the chairman’s support and assistance when it concerns logistic, security cannot be left in the hands of the Federal Government alone, the state government needs to assist us and the local government with its lean resources. As you can see in the inscription on the vehicle, it was ab initio bought by the local government through the state government. So, we always partner with the chairman in terms of crime control.”