Aggrieved Recruits of the Rivers State Neighbourhood Safety Corps Agency (RIVNESCA), on Thursday, demanded the operationalisation of the agency over growing insecurity in the state.
Amatari Bipeleda, the spokesman of the recruits said the level of killings in the state is regrettable, adding that after being screened for training at the Camp, the Army invaded the camp and disrupted the exercise and dispersed them.
Recall that chieftains of the All Progressives Congress had expressed reservation that RIVNESCA, which the government had described as people-oriented security platform designed to complement the efforts of security agencies in curbing the prevailing security challenges in the state, was set up for the purpose of the 2019 general election.
They subsequently accused the governor of trying to equip a private army.
Bipeleda said they were at the Government House to register their dismay over the non-existence of the agency that has been passed into law, adding that the state government should expedite the immediate take-off of the agency to restore hope to Rivers’ people as insecurity is now on the high side in neighbourhoods in the state.
Another RIVNESCA member, Emmanuel Okpara, advised the government not to encourage illegal armed vigilante groups, as this was an indirect way of promoting crime in the state, Guardian reports.
Okpara noted that giving arms to former cultists will plunge the state into major insecurity, adding that it will be very difficult to recover arms from them.
The Camp Commandant, Government House, Eric Efe, who addressed the protesters, assured them that Governor Wike remains committed to the take-off of the agency now that the elections are over. Efe, who said high-level power-play truncated the planned operationalisation of the agency last year, charged the recruits not to be dispirited but be hopeful that they will soon begin operation to main law and order.
