CP Bitrus Giwa (middle) with other stakeholders and participants
The Commissioner of Police in Enugu State has tasked parents and guardians on the proper upbringing of children and youth to stem the use of hard drugs/substances that encourage cultism and other vices.
Giwa gave the task on Tuesday during the official Re-Launch of Police Campaign Against Cultism and Other Vices (POCACOV) in Enugu State and Stakeholders Meeting on “Strengthening Community Partnership For Sustainable Crime Prevention”. The state police boss noted that it was wrong for parents to abandon their critical role of moulding children’s character from home to the school or police.
He noted that the home must ensure that children are disciplined and avoid bad company; while delinquent attitudes/characters should be corrected at formative stages, such as hard drug-taking habits. The commissioner noted that POCACOV started in Enugu through the initiative of former Police Public Relations Officer in the state, SP Ebere Amaraizu, adding that since it setting up, the state police command had sustained the POCACOV campaigns and engagements.
“As a Command, we have promoted community policing and engagements to a new height as we believe that police cannot do it alone. We need cooperation and support of all segments of the state. We have been in the vanguard using our social engagements to redirect misguided and drug addicted youths to make a change and contribute positively to society and their betterment as well.
“The Command will also sustain all existing POCACOV engagements and community policing initiatives even as we believe that using emotional intelligence and a non-kinetic approach can solve some issues better,” he said.
Giwa appealed to traditional rulers, youths and community leaders to encourage their youths to join the Nigeria Police as the state government had provided vehicles and other logistics for them to work with. According to him, they will be able to further join the Nigeria Police in reforming misguided youths in the state.
Speaking, the National Coordinator of POCACOV, SP Orvenonne Ikwen, said that the POCACOV initiative was meant to deploy the non-kinetic crime-fighting approach to win back misguided youths. Ikwen said that the major cause of cultism in the community remained peer pressure and hard drug use.
She noted that through tailored sensitisation and engagements, the police would be able to check hard drug use and negative influences in the youths. “Our youths must be taught and oriented to pursue positive engagements that produce positive results for themselves and the larger society,” she said.
Corroborating Igwe Chinedu Nwaobodo, the Traditional Ruler of Ugwuaji Awkwunanaw Autonomous Community, said that some youths engage in situational crime, which they might not commit when guided properly or placed in a better condition.
“So, as traditional rulers, we have a role to constantly engage the youths and correct perceived mistakes on time and encourage peaceful co-existence,” Nwobodo said.
The Secretary-General of Police Officers’ Wife Association, Enugu State, Mrs Adaeze Anosike, pledged the support of POWA to further expand the campaigns of POCACOV in the state.
Organisations that attended the event included: National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), the National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), NDLEA, NAPTIP and the Cope and Live Mental Health Awareness Foundation (CALMHAF), among others.
