Akwa Ibom state government has launced its security outfit, Ibom Community Watch (ICW) to enhance security in rural areas and complement community policing.

The outfit, whichh is line with the ARISE Agenda of the Governor Umo Eno administration, will work with government security agencies.

It will provide security information information to security agencies, protect public facilities, help secure the state’s waterways, control crowd, market and traffic among others.

Over 5,000 youths recruited from all the units in the state for Ibom Community Watch are to work in rural areas.

Governor Eno, who inaugurated the outfit at the Uyo township stadium on Thursday, said Ibom Community Watch was not a replacement for the police and other security agencies.

Eno, who equipped the ICW with communication equipment and vehicles including motorcycles, said the core vision of the outfit is to provide security at the grassroot level, provide intelligence for the mainstream security services and ensure that government facilities are not vandalized.

He said: “They are to work under very strick supervision and control of the main security agencies, especially the Police. Their jobs will be to provide security information, to help in crowd control, to help protect basic Government assets and ensure that there is peace in all the areas where they are located.

“I would like to also say that not only are we creating jobs for these five thousand people, we are creating jobs for small business enterprises.

“The uniforms you see here are made by Akwa Ibomites. All of the boots that these men are wearing are made by Akwa Ibomites and that is part of stimulating the economy, so that our people who have handwork will continue to do more things,” he stated.

“These splinter groups may not have really helped us as a State, and sometimes we have clashes among those groups. It is better we put all of those groups together, train them, profile them and give them a permanent job and then move them off the streets so that they can be useful, not just to themselves, but also to the society.”

He thanked the regular security agencies for providing required technical support and training of the initial 550 personnel to kick-start the outfit and affirmed that the next batch of training and recruitment will be targeted at creating a team of locals from the riverine areas to help in marine security, stressing that 30% of the total 5,000 personnel target for the Ibom Community Watch should be women.

Earlier, Commissioner for Internal Security and Waterways, General Koko Essien rtd. Noted that the launch of the Community Watch was a culmination of the training and passing out of the first five hundred and fifty trainees from Uyo Local Government Area, explaining that the outfit will accommodate five thousand youths in the State recruited from the political units for equity and fairness.

On his part, the Commissioner of Police, Akwa Ibom State Command, CP Olatoye Durosinmi, commended the initiative of the Umo Eno led- government in tackling security challenges, saying that the engagement of 5000 youths will not only ensure a significant reduction in criminality, but enhance policing especially with the spelt out rules of engagement.

Also speaking, the State Coordinator of the Ibom Community Watch, Isantim Kenneth Okon, expressed delight with Governor Eno for his visionary leadership approach which has reduced security challenges to the barest minimum and taking thousands of youths out of the streets through the Community Watch programme.

He pledged unwavering commitment towards ensuring that the aim for which the programme was initiated is achieved by collaborating with the State Security agencies to ensure the Security, peace and harmony of the State.

Highpoint of the launch was unveiling of operational vehicles for the Community Watch programme. (The Nation)

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