Internal security, collective responsibility – Delta Govt

Chief Boro Opudu, the Chairman, Delta Waterways and Land Security Committee, says internal security is a collective responsibility.

Opudu stated this when the students of the 2025 Senior Course 47 of the Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Jaji, visited him on Thursday in Warri

He was represented at the event by Mr Ediri Otovie, Assistant Director (Admin)/Head of Administration, Delta Waterways and Land Security Committee.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the students were led by Brig.-Gen. Al-hassan Grema, Director of Coordination, Senior Course 47 of the Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Jaji.

The theme of the tour was: “Harnessing Grassroots Intelligence for Enhanced Internal Security”.

“All hands must be on deck to enhance internal security in communities, local government areas, states and the nation by providing intelligence, which is the driver of every operation of security agencies,” Opudu said.

The chairman, who described the theme of the tour as “very apt”, said that the committee was constituted by the state government to help mitigate the perennial insecurity challenges in the state.

Opudu said that the development informed the state government to constitute the committee to effectively monitor the nooks and crannies of the state.

He said that the state had, overtime, been confronted with a plethora of peace and security breaches such as youth restiveness, kidnapping, armed robbery, pipeline vandalism, illegal bunkering, among others.

Opudu said that, though the committee does not bear arms nor wear uniforms in the course of their duty, it provides useful intelligence to the security agencies.

Security is a major concern in society, it is a critical sector that affects everyone, hence the roles of various stakeholders are needed.

The Delta Waterways and Land Security Committee is made up of community leaders, stakeholders and youth who are familiar with the riverine and land terrain of the state.

The committee is expected to send early warning signals to the appropriate security agencies in case of any breach to ensure the safety of land and rivers for the populace and investors.

“The committee is also mandated to assist the government in checking activities of miscreants, hoodlums and kidnappers as well as protection of lives and properties in the state,” he said.

Opudu disclosed that the recruitment of the informants and the composition of the members of the committee were done from their immediate environment.

According to him, the approach makes their operations easier because the people know virtually all the indigenes in their respective immediate environment.

He, however, noted that if well researched, it would offer solutions to the emerging security challenges that had greatly affected the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), aside from loss of lives.

Responding, Brig.-Gen. Grema thanked the Delta Waterways and Land Security Committee for the warm reception.

Grema said that they were on a tour to Delta Waterways and Land Security Committee to understudy their mode of operations, and expressed satisfaction with the brief.

“We have find takeaways from your brief. I have been in Delta; this committee has been on for a very long time.

My advice is that any commander of the security forces who works in Delta and does not work closely with this committee will find his work so challenging,” he said.

NAN reports that 44 students were on the study tour and are expected to visit nine states in the country