The South East Zone National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons and the Abia State government have intensified the campaign to control small arms and light weapons in the state.
The zone director, Captain Chris Anusiem and Governor Alex Otti stated this during the director‘s courtesy visit to the governor at his Nvosi country home.
Anusiem said the visit was part of his familiarisation tour of the zone, following his recent posting to Enugu, the headquarters.
He pledged to partner with the government in crime prevention and reiterated the centre‘s mandate in promoting an arms-free society.
He lauded Otti for his strides in maintaining peace and security in the state and stressed that tackling arms proliferation requires a collective effort.
In a response, the governor said his administration and the people of the state will cooperate with him and the agency to ensure he succeeds in his assignment.
Otti said security remains central to his administration‘s policies, adding that the fight against insecurity requires collective action.
In his words, “Everybody must work together. One of the things we have here is that we have security agencies whose heads and everybody work together.
“From time to time, we hold security council meetings and develop strategies, sharing ideas on how to eliminate or at least reduce crime to the barest minimum.
“We also, like you rightly pointed out, are working with the neighbouring states, so that somebody does not commit a crime here and then take off to any of them.
He extolled the federal government for establishing the centre and thanked President Bola Tinubu for appointing DIG Johnson Babatunde Kukum as the director-general.
