By TYAV SAM TYAV, Makurdi –
The Benue State Government is determined to establish a Bureau of Home Land Security which would be coordinating and liaising between the office of the governor and the security agencies.
This has already received the approval of the Benue State Security Council.
A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Tersoo Kula on Friday disclosed that this would facilitate immediate responses on security matters in Benue state.
Governor Hyacinth Alia, who was represented by the Deputy Governor, Sam Ode, according to the statement, said the Security Council had agreed that the Bureau be headed by a Director General, appointed by the governor.
The Security Council the statement continued directed that the curfew in the entire Sankera area of the state should continue even as the council placed a ban on protest in the entire axis until further notice.
The Council also agreed that a Judicial Panel of Inquiry should be set up by the government to look into the destruction of government and private properties in Ukum, as a result of the recent protest in the area.
The council equally dismay at the increasing number of illegal checkpoints in the state, urging all security agencies in the state to work together in synergy, so as to effectively combat crimes in Benue, insisting that the Benue State law against Matching Ground was still effective and operational and would soon be gazzetted and made available to the public.
The Security Council also directed the Special Adviser on security to work in collaboration with the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism, to organize a workshop and sensitize the people on the dangers of illicit drugs and human trafficking in the state.
It called for extensive consultations on the request for allocation of plots of land for federal agencies to erect their structures in order to ensure a fair treatment on all concerned.
In a related development the Zonal Commander, National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Makurdi Zonal Office, Gloria Iveren Bai, has said the Benue girls that were trafficked to Ivory Coast have been brought back home and are currently in rehabilitation.
She spoke shortly after the Security meeting at the Government House, Makurdi.
She informed that the lady who took some girls Ivory coast in the guise to get jobs for them has been arrested and would soon be charged to Court.
She appreciated the efforts of the state government in ensuring the release of the girls and cautioned parents, guardians and job seekers to be careful in order not to be victims human traffickers. T
