Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State, joint ECOWAS and the EU, on Monday, destroyed over 200 arms and 5,510 ammunitions in the flag off of ECOWAS-European Union Arms Destruction Exercise in Calabar.
Arms proliferation has become a recurring decimal in the border discourse across the state, giving rise to security concerns to successive governments in the state.
Cross River State governor, Ben Ayade, representatives of Ecowas- EU and service commanders in the state took part in the destruction exercise.
The dangers of arms proliferation, militancy and youth restiveness dominated discourse at the flag-off of the Ecowas-European Union Arms Destruction Exercise held in the state capital.
A total of 260 arms and 5510 ammunition, surrendered by the Bakassi Strike Force and Khaki Boys were destroyed.
Speaking at the occasion which held at the UJ Esuene Stadium, Ayade called for the inclusion of the Bakassi Strike Force into the Amnesty Programme of the Federal Government.
He recalled that a similar exercise was carried out by his government in 2018 where over 5,000 militants surrendered their arms, but regretted that “up till now, they are waiting to be enrolled into the Federal Government Amnesty programme.
“I would prefer that we find a way to find an alternative job for them. Let the entire members of the Bakassi Strike force and the Khaki boys be included in the amnesty program of the Federal Government of Nigeria,” the governor said.
Ayade lamented that with over 32 immigrants routes in Cross River, the state had become a veritable source for the harvest of arms and harvest of young men.
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He, therefore, appealed to the Federal Government to give the state special consideration in terms of financial assistance.
Ayade also commended the efforts of Operation of Akpakwu, the security outfit ridding the state of crime, assuring that he would not rest until criminals were totally routed out of the state.
He said because of the operations of Operation Akpakwu, the state, particularly Calabar, had had the lowest incidences of crime in the country in the last two years.
Earlier, Joel Bisina of Lite-Africa who represented ECOWAS-EU at the event, stated that the arms destruction was part of the mandate of the Presidential Committee on Small Arms and Light Weapons.
He commended the governor for strategically facilitating the voluntary surrender of the arms by the militants.
On his part, Special Adviser on Amnesty and Rehabilitation to Governor Ayade, Mr Austin Ibok, said the Presidential Committee on Small Arms and Light Weapons was established by EU and ECOWAS as a program to provide an alternative livelihood to youths in Cross River, with emphasis on ex-agitators, such the Bakassi Strike Force, the Boki Freedom Fighters as well as ex-cultists, who had denounced their membership of various confraternities.
At present, the state enjoys an incredible record of calm as the 10 pm to 6 am curfew has been in force for over two months running.
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Border security: Gov Ayade, EU-ECOWAS destroy 260 arms, 5,510 ammunitions in Calabar