The governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodimma, has advised the South East traditional rulers to take the problem of insecurity in the region seriously in all their deliberations and day-to-day programmes in their states, local governments, and communities.
The governor made the appeal at the South East Council of Traditional Rulers Expanded Executive Council Meeting held at the Eze Imo Palace, Mbari Owerri, Imo State.
Represented by the secretary to the state government, Chief Cosmas Iwu, the governor urged the monarchs from the South East to also take seriously the problem of absentee royal fathers who live outside their domain in their communities, creating a vacuum in leadership amidst internal crisis and general insecurity challenges that could have been handled by them and their president generals.
The governor emphasised that as the chief security officers of their autonomous communities, they are bound by law and tradition to investigate the viral problems of insecurity in the South East and take action to stem the tide.
The governor said that the government is doing a lot to check the surge in insecurity but noted that “without the royal fathers playing their role efficiently and effectively, nothing substantial will be achieved.”
He noted that the government had given them a sense of belonging in the fight against insecurity by involving them as members of the State Security Council and the Local Government Security Committee.
Governor Uzodimma advised the traditional rulers to work in synergy with their president generals to improve the overall security situation, saying that is a sure way to restore and ensure development. Hence, “no peace, no development,” he stated.
He further challenged the Royal Fathers to always provide advice on how to improve governance in the States and Local Governments of the South East “so that the South East will be the envy of other Geopolitical zones in the country.”
The governor informed the audience that his government is doing tremendously well in the areas of infrastructure, health, education, agriculture, and security control, as can be attested to by the Imo State Traditional Rulers and the entire South East Traditional Rulers.
Governor Uzodimma congratulated the monarchs for coming together to discuss their welfare and the welfare of the entire South East they represent and seized the opportunity to declare the meeting open.
In his welcome address, the chairman of the Imo State Council of Traditional Rulers, who is also chairman of the South East Council of Traditional Rulers, HRM Eze Dr Emmanuel Okeke, thanked God for his colleagues’ safe arrival in Imo State and acknowledged that the meeting offers them the opportunity to “come together and speak with one voice, to bring sanity to the administration of their States, South East zone, and the country in general.”
He said, “The purpose of the Meeting is mainly focused on the State of the affairs in the South East and the Nation in general and the need to make progress,” and that they “gathered to state the obvious without sentiments but with sincerity of purpose in all the deliberations.”
He appreciated the South East Governor’s Forum and its leadership and the National Legislature for their efforts to secure additional States for the zone and the return of peace to Imo State in particular and the zone in general.
Okeke acknowledged Governor Uzodimma’s good works in security, social welfare, and infrastructural development, which he said “are second to none since the creation of Imo State in 1976.”
