… As Apex Maritime agency donates items to hospitals, schools in Plateau***

The Ekiti State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) and Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) have urged stakeholders in the security sector to be proactive in gathering security information toward tackling the menace of insecurity.

The two agencies made the plea at a workshop organized for security operatives in Ekiti on the way forward to ending the state of insecurity.

Also read: NIMASA seeks Stakeholders’ collaboration on security

The one-day capacity-building workshop, held in Ado-Ekiti on Thursday brought together different security agencies to brainstorm on the security challenges in the state, with a view to proffering solutions to them.

Retired Capt. Sunday Adebomi, the Chairman of SEMA in Ekiti, while declaring the workshop open, said there was a need for collaboration among security operatives in the state.

He then called on security agencies to collaborate in order to perform effectively, urging them to synergize with local communities for enhanced intelligence sharing and proactive policing.

Adebomi said that tackling insecurity requires information gathering, advising security personnel to intensify efforts at ensuring that the issue of insecurity was tackled headlong.

The security expert, however, recommended that all security agencies in the state should be made members of the State Security Council.

He urged the three tiers of government to ensure that modern technologies were provided to enable them to confront the issue of insecurity.

Adebomi identified a lack of inclusiveness in the security council as hampering the fight against insecurity in the state.

He urged the security agencies to see security as a communal corporate responsibility.

Adebomi further stressed the need for synergy among them in order to achieve a holistic security report.

Also, Dr Bashir Jamoh, the Director-General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), represented by Mr Felix Owoh, the Deputy Director, Special Duties, called for community policing, saying there is a need for all security agencies to work together.

Jamoh called for the deployment of more surveillance teams for effective patrol of the 16 local government areas and to all the flash points in the state.

He suggested the deployment of immigration personnel to all the entries and exit points in the state to check the influx of illegal immigrants.

In his remarks, the Commissioner of Police in Ekiti, Mr Moronkeji Adesina, delivered a paper on: “Challenges of Internal Security in Ekiti State: The Way Out”.

Adesina, represented by ACP Sheu Alao, identified inadequate manpower and equipment and the deplorable condition of roads as some of the factors that contributed to insecurity in the state.

The police chief recommended the recruitment of more manpower, including local vigilante groups and other security personnel to bridge the gap between the security agencies and the communities in the state.

“There should be regular training and re-training of security personnel,” Adesina said.

Commenting, the General Manager of SEMA, Mr Jide Borode, said the agency has been proactive in responding to people who were affected by disasters.

Borode said that communique drafted from the workshop would be forwarded to appropriate quarters to address insecurity in the state.

The workshop was attended by regular and paramilitary security agencies.

In the same vein, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has donated hospital equipment and educational items to some hospitals and schools in Plateau.

NIMASA Assistant Director, Special Duties (External Relations & Technical Cooperation), Mr. Daniel Kajo, said the gesture was part of the agency’s Corporate Social Responsibility to society.

Kajo said the gesture was in line with the vision of NIMASA under the leadership of its Director-General, Dr. Bashir Jamoh.

“This year the agency has decided to intervene in all states of the federal federation.

“We are intervening in four areas; provision of hospital equipment, provision of educational items, support to security agencies, and distribution of relief materials.

“This year, Plateau is the beneficiary of hospital equipment and educational items,” he explained.

The assistant director said the distribution that was inaugurated at the Olusegun Obasanjo Model Jos and Plateau Specialist Hospital, Jos, would be extended to other schools and hospitals.

According to him, public schools that seem to have been neglected would be the ones to benefit.

“After the inauguration, Plateau State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) would continue with the distribution in the schools and hospitals we have identified with their support,” he added.

Plateau SEMA Acting Executive Secretary, Mr. Chuwang Sha, said that the assessment of schools and hospitals to benefit had been concluded.

“The benefitting schools and hospitals have already been identified.

So, the items have already been allocated and will simply just be conveyed.

“Within this week or next, each of the benefitting schools and hospitals will get the materials.

“After the distribution, we will make a comprehensive record of everything we have distributed and then send it to NIMASA,” he said.

Sha thanked NIMASA for partnering with the agency to reach out to the people of Plateau, particularly the less-privileged ones.

Chief Medical Director, Plateau Specialist Hospital Jos, Dr. Philemon Golwa thanked NIMASA for coming to their aid.

Golwa said that the agency’s intervention was timely as all equipment donated was urgently needed in the hospital.

“All the items you brought touch every aspect of clinical health.

I can see wheelchairs, surgical sets (major and minor), telescopes, stretchers, and a whole lot of other materials.

“I think it is a holistic arrangement and as soon as you disappear from here, we are going to channel them to the appropriate units for immediate usage,” he stated.

The elated CMD added that it was God’s divine arrangement for NIMASA to come to Plateau Hospital for the benefit of humanity.

The newsmen report that the educational materials donated include whiteboards, books, school bags, socks, and writing materials among many others.