Committee demands more recognition for vigilance groups

CHIEF Ikechukwu Aduba, Chairman, Anambra Vigilance Supervisory Committee, has called the for integration of vigilance groups in the national security system for more effective security in the country.

He told newsmen in Awka on Sunday that the number of policemen and other Federal Government-controlled security agencies were inadequate to ensure security in every part of the country.

Aduba, a retired police commissioner, said that the vigilance groups should be built into the security system of Nigeria because of their spread and good knowledge of the language peculiarities of the places they operate.

He said the effective collaboration between the Anambra Vigilance Group and other security operatives in the state had resulted in effective policing with successful joint operations.

“Security is not a one-way traffic, you don’t have to sit in the fence, we all must get involved, either by providing useful information or in fighting it proper like the Anambra Vigilance Group is doing in Anambra.

“Vigilance essentially is a grassroots thing, just as security; you cannot joke with grassroots security anywhere because it is part of national security.
“Vigilance is not an alternative to police but a complement in a number of ways, including intelligence gathering and operations.

“Federal presence or police presence is not enough to cover all the nooks and crannies of the country because of their limited number.

“There is also language barriers and these are the areas where the vigilance groups come in,’’ he said.

Aduba said the Anambra Vigilance Group had assisted with information and operations that led to the arrest of no fewer than 40 suspects in Onitsha, Obosi and Nnewi.

“Since December, we have been conducting raids in identified black spots; we were able to pick a total of 40 suspects from such operations and handed them over to the police.

“Our own is intelligence gathering but we have even gone beyond that to operations, side by side with other security agencies.

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“The problem is that most of these people we arrest are given bail, because if you arrest criminal without any evidence, the police will release him and if you take him to court, they will acquit him.

“If the evidence is not there, the police will find it difficult to work, so people have to come out to give evidence,’’ he said.