FOMIHA: Ex-Imo Lawmakers Laud NSCDCCommandant, Vow To Partner On Fight Against Insecurity

Former Members of the Imo State House of Assembly,FOMIHA have indicated their willingness to collaborate with security agencies in the fight against crime and criminality in the state.
As critical stakeholders who made laws for the state for good governance, the ex-lawmakers said that they had resolved to play advisory role to assist both the eexecutive and state legislature in the performance of their statutory functions.
Operating under the aegis of the association of former Imo State Law Makers, the chairman,FOMIHA, Prince Ugochukwu Nzekwe disclosed this when the executives and other members of the association paid a courtesy visit on the State Commandant of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps ,NSCDC, Mathew Sunday Ovye in his office in Owerri.
Nzekwe,a trained Israeli/Garman security management expert and a former Minority Leader of the State House of Assembly said that they are desirous to assist contain security challenges in the state, the ex- Lawmakers had established a security committee that would liaise with security chiefs in the state to strengthen their operations.
The two-time lawmaker (Nkwere State Constituency) recalled that a good number of prominent Nigerians including the President, his Chief of Staff and the Vice President were former lawmakers at the national assembly.
He noted that security challenges in the state had continued to dwindle as a result of the relentless effort of Governor Hope Uzodinma to make the state a haven for all Prince Nzekwe also hailed the NSCDC chief for his impressive performance, even as he condoled with him for losing some of his personnel through the nefarious activities of unidentified criminals
The former Lawmaker explained that the visit was to ascertain areas of need and support to the NSCDC in the state and enjoined officers and men of the crime fighting sector to remain undeterred in their patriotic services to the state and the nation at large despite all odds.
He later presented a copy of the compendium of the former lawmakers to Ovye.
Responding, the NSCDC Commandant extolled the former lawmakers for their resolution to contribute their quota towards the resolution of the challenges confronting the state, noting that as lawmakers, they left their footprints on the sands of the time through qualitative and result oriented lawmaking.
“Although you are no longer lawmakers, you should continue to forge ahead and we must all put out party differences behind us in order to build the Imo of our dream. We must rise and collectively fight insecurity and NSCDC has the mandate to protect critical assets of government.
According to Ovye, currently, the NSCDC is pursuing 25 cases in court with some completed while others are still pending, adding that the institution had secured a mandate from the appropriate quarters to protect schools for conducive teaching and learning just as it had intensified measures to tackle oil bunkering and pipeline vandalization in the state.
He identified lack of logistics as the greatest challenge confronting his office lamenting that non availability of vehicles had more often than not impeded quick responses to distress calls.
He also disclosed that Imo State has been identified as the headquarters of the NSCDC of the South East but is the only zone that lacks a Secretariat to store equipment’s to be supplied by both the Federal Ministry of Education and NSCDC headquarters Abuja for distributions to schools.
He therefore appealed to the former lawmakers to assist to remedy the situation.