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Governor Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta State on Wednesday, November 20, 2024 said that it was the value that his administration placed on making the safety of life, property and ensuring enduring peace in the state that underscored the policy of Enhanced Peace and Security as the fourth Component of Delta State Government’s M.O.R.E Agenda.

He also called on journalists and owners of media establishments to fact-check their information with relevant government officials before publication for accuracy, fairness, and balance, in line with the ethics of the profession, adding that they should resist resort to blackmail and the disturbing penchant of media trials, persecution, cyber bullying and premature judgments against anybody or institution,

The Governor spoke as Guest of Honour at the 2024 Annual Lecture Series of Delta Online Publishers’ Forum (DOPF), with the theme: “Security Challenges: Finding Local Implementable solutions”, with Assistant Commissioner of Police Olumuyi Adejobi, Force Public Relations Officer, Nigeria Police Force Headquarters, Abuja as Guest Speaker. Governor Oborevwori was represented by the Commissioner for information, Dr. Ifeanyi Osuoza.

At the event which was chaired by Elder Emmanuel Ogidi, a Fellow of Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) and held at the Vienna Hotel, DBS road, Asaba, the Governor while pointing out that the issue of security formed the fourth Component of his administration’s M.O.R.E Agenda, complimented by the other critical components of Meaningful Development, Opportunities for All and Realistic Reforms, said: “We are very conscious of the fact that Enhanced Peace and Security creates the right atmosphere for social and economic life and it is quite obvious that the other aspects of the development agenda cannot materialize without deliberate and sustained prevalence of peace and security.

“This administration has been very committed and determined in our efforts to address the security challenge, by defining, devising and instituting our own local Implementable solutions, with the deployment of all necessary resources, energies, collaboration, partnerships, stakeholder engagement, consultation and dialogue, towards ensuring that Delta State remains peaceful and secure for its citizens and residents, local as well as foreign investors.”

Identifying some of the local implementable solutions put in place by the state government, Governor Oborevwori said: “We have built and initiated mechanisms to detect early warning signals, conflict prevention, conflict resolution and conflict control. We have equally engaged with critical stakeholders including traditional rulers, community leaders, youths and women, amongst others, to maintain peace and resolve conflicts.

“This administration has created platforms to encourage and promote cultural interfaces between communities, established and maintained channels for policy and programmes feedback from the grassroots and stakeholders, especially through our town hall meetings, engaged our youths in productive and gainful employment through our social safety net schemes and initiatives to mitigate youth restiveness and collaborated robustly with all security agencies in the state, by providing logistics and operational support in the maintenance of law and order.

“And just recently, this administration donated 31 operational vehicles to the police and other security agencies in the state, to strengthen their efficiency and enhance the joint security operations in our domain, through our existing security special purpose vehicle, now code-named ‘Operation Delta Sweep.’ This joint security task force, established on December 10, 2020, as a policy response to rising violent crimes, comprises the Nigerian Army, Police Force, Air Force, Navy, DSS, and Civil Defence Corps.

“The donation was prompted by the general insecurity experienced in the country and as part of this administration’s commitment towards enhancing peace and security, the existing state joint security force formerly known as ‘Delta Hawk’ has now been rebranded to ‘Operation Delta Sweep,’ to underscore the renewed focus and strategy in our security architecture and management.”

The Governor commended the security agencies for their robust responses and actions, which have recorded significant successes in combating crimes such as illegal oil bunkering, kidnapping, armed robbery, cultism, and drug-related offences, and that the rebranding of the joint security force reflects the administration’s “pragmatic resolve to embrace our own indigenous, pragmatic strategies to reduce crime to its barest minimum.”

“This administration remains committed to providing the necessary support to ensure peace and security in Delta State and with the measures we have put in place so far, we are confident that our people will enjoy a secure and peaceful state going forward,” Governor Oborevwori said.

He expressed gratitude and appreciation of the State Government to members of the Delta Online Publishers Forum who, he acknowledged, have remained reliable partners in progress, not only in reporting and promoting the MORE Agenda of this administration, comprehensively, but for also embarking on this annual intellectual discourse that has continued to interrogate and expand the frontiers of national conversation on salient and germane issues.

While acknowledging that Online publishers can foster civic engagement by encouraging public participation in government processes, especially through facilitating forums for discussion like this one, and that they can also serve as platforms to give voice to local challenges by highlighting specific issues and needs, thereby encouraging focus and attention to such issues with the objective of finding local solutions to address these concerns, Oborevwori however, urged journalists and owners of media establishments to always fact-check their information with relevant government officials before publication for accuracy, fairness, and balance, in line with the ethics of the profession.

 

He said: “They should not resort to blackmail or the very disturbing penchant of media trials, persecution, cyber bullying and premature judgments against anybody or institution, until the the proper agencies and courts of law have investigated, deliberated and pronounced on such situations.

“The media has a powerful social and cultural impact on the society and thus, it should reflect and project the positive image of the society, especially in this day and age of new media, so it is equally imperative for media entrepreneurs and practitioners to embrace the dissemination of news and information that will promote national unity and harmony as a major priority.”

In his lecture, the ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi among other things identified Boko Haram as an error and a scam, pointing out that the perpetrators claim that western education is bad and should not be patronized, yet the same persons propagating Boko Haram are graduates of western education.

On the kidnap syndrome being witnessed in the country, ACP Adejobi identified what he called three dimensions to kidnapping to include:

• Kidnappers collecting ransom and refusing to release victim.
• Kidnappers collecting ransom, and still kill victim; and
• Kidnappers collecting ransom, kill victims and refuse to release the body of victim.

Adejobi acknowledged that community policing is good for the country as it will work in curbing insecurity because the operators are local people who live in the community and are known by the people. “It will bring about accountability,” he said.

A major challenge that the Force Public Relations Officer identified is the challenge posed by the operations of the traditional institutions and some community leaders. He said some of these people are Indian hemp smokers, engage in yahoo yahoo, they are cultists, land grabbers among others. “We need the traditional institutions to help in policing the community because they have a big role to play in curbing insecurity,” ACP Adejobi said.

He lamented that the whole issue of insecurity is because the nation has lost its values and that the lost values should be restored. “Our culture and moral values  alone can help us out. We need to restore them,” he said.

He called on Nigerians to become individualistic as a way to enhance their economic development, pointing out that people should play down on dependence on government by looking inward to what they can do individually to enhance their economic independence. “Economic development should not be the job of Government alone,” he said.

On good governance, ACP Adejobi advised that it was time that Nigerians should stand firm and say no to politicians who come to buy their votes. Stay resolute and vote your conscience during elections and refuse to be influence with money to vote against your conscience.

He said people should not blame government alone on good governance, but Nigerians also should be good observers of our laws including respecting ordinary traffic rule.

“We need to fall back on our conscience; we need to engage our sense of patriotism. Every Nigeria needs to be security conscious and not security bankrupt. To be safe, you must be conscious of things around you,” the guest lecturer said.