Following the worsening security situation in the country and Niger Delta in particular, stakeholders in the region have suggested ways the country can tackle the menace.
The stakeholders majorly drawn from the media ad security spoke at a roundtable session organized by the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) Rivers State in Port Harcourt.
The speakers urged leaders not to politicize the security situation in the country.
The keynote speaker, Bobo Sofiri Brown, who spoke on the theme “The Future of Niger Delta in the Current Security Turmoil in Nigeria”, stated that lack of coherent account of what the security situation is in the nation is a serious challenge to solving the problem.
According to Brown who is a former President of NIPR, “the federal government does not have a coherent report on security challenge. It keeps reporting that Boko Haram is the only security threat in the country, hence there are other challenges like cultism, bunkery, militancy and others”.
He further stressed that “unexpected quarters are beginning to hear loud voices from the Governors, Lawmakers, traditional rulers and religious leaders on security threats. These people are part of those who would have spoken when the issue has not gone wide”, adding that insecurity in Nigeria has no level.
Speaking on the recent attack on security formation in Rivers State, Brown commended the state Governor, Nyesom Wike for his effort in speaking out on the security position of the state and nation at large, stressing that many governors have continued to shut their voices on the issue.
The public relations expert advised Niger Delta leadership to improve on commerce economy than concentrating only on crude oil exploitation, stressing that “we need to talk about the future that will introduce us to improve the Rivers State and Niger Delta economy.”
He said “the politics of neglect and exploitation has brought in the height of insecurity faced in the nation today”.
Earlier in his opening remarks, state chairman of NIPR, Paulinus Nsirim, explained that the essence of the roundtable session was to proffer solutions to the plethora of problems facing the nation.
He said: “as a social entity we felt the need to bring stakeholders to a roundtable to begin to proffer a narrative that will be a total solution to a nagging issues of insecurity in Nigeria”.
Nsirim who is also the Commissioner for Information and Communication in the state, stated that the Niger Delta is the goose that lays the golden egg in Nigeria, hence, without the region the country will collapse. He prayed for improved security in the region.
He called on the media to beware of the roles they play as watchdogs of the society in security issues while expressing confidence that at the end of the meeting, agenda would be set for Niger Delta and Nigeria at large in security matters.
On his part, Prof Godwin Okon, a lecturer with the Department of Mass Communication, Rivers State University, called for support of government in the fight against insecurity.
Okon noted that community management as possible solution to security challenge, stressing that “we must have integration of technology because we can no longer fight security using the antics of yesterday.”
Stakeholders at the event agreed that roundtable discussions should be organized regularly to keep people abreast of the security situation in the state, as well as in the region, to enable them share intelligence on security.
