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By Romanus Ugwu
The Governor of Kogi State, Usman Ododo, has revealed that his administration is deploying the services of hunters, vigilante, Information and Communication Technology and the regular security forces to tackle insecurity across the state.
The governor, represented by the state Commissioner for Information and Communication, Kingsley Fanwo, spoke during the inspection tour of the projects in the state by the Renewed Hope Ambassadors, in collaboration with the presidential media team around some local government areas (LGAs) round Kogi West.
He boasted that the deployment of kinetic and security forces would make it almost impossible for non-state actors to attack schools in the state unless those in miracle centres, emphasising that it was made possible by the funds the administration of President Bola Tinubu made available to the states.
While explaining the security arrangements to protect the state, he said: “As you are entering the school premises, you will notice that we have a robust security architecture. The local government chairmen are on top of their game and the state government has also recruited people into the vigilante service; they are trained and armed. Before now, they operated as ad-hoc, but this governor has integrated them into the mainstream civil service.
“They are now in charge of security. We have the local hunters, the vigilante service and the police as the kinetic part of the security architecture. We are also deploying technology into it and right from the control room in Lokoja, they are picking every movement. With what happened in Olowa, Dekina LGA, we have been able to integrate technology into the security measures. The students are very safe so long as they remain in the government-designated centres not miracles centres.
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“The two critical pillars of this administration, education and health, are topmost. The government is not just providing the health facilities, equipment and structure, it also knows that it would create room for affordability and to access it, which means taking it to the grassroots.
“The government has invested so much in recruiting teachers, buying books, equipping the laboratories, making the school fees free and the people have already started receiving the dividends with the high statistics of parents pulling their children from private to public schools,” he said.
In his summation of the inspection, Tunde Rahman, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Special Duties and the Director, Media and Publicity for the Renewed Hope Ambassadors, said that President Tinubu had done so well to deserve a re-election in 2027 after freeing up resources to the state governors to facilitate the landmark projects they have executed.
He said: “We have gone round Kogi West on inspection of projects and Governor Ododo’s intervention in the areas of primary healthcare and road infrastructure across some local governments. We were told that the intervention covers eight out of the 21 LGAs. We saw the achievements in rehabilitation and building of model schools and in the area of erosion control too. “For us, this speaks to the character, the person and governance philosophy of Governor Ododo. If you look at him very well, you will know that he is very humble, has a sense of fairness, a sense of moderation and speaks to the projects we have inspected so far. The development of inner roads in Mopa, according to the Information Commissioner, was the first of its kind, which speaks of a governor who is egalitarian, and who wants development across the board. He also purchased 30 fully-equipped ambulances across the state.
“We also saw what has been done in just two years at Kogi State University in Kabba and it confirms that the governor has shown clearly that he believes in grassroots development, education and human empowerment.
“All these have been possible due to the reforms the Federal Government has put in place in freeing resources to the nationals and it equally confirms that President Tinubu had done so well to deserve a second term because the achievements will speak for him to get re-elected,” he said.
