A public affairs analyst says the concentration of development in Port Harcourt and Obio/Akpor Local Government contributed to the height of crime levels in local communities across Rivers State. The analyst who is also a senior lecturer in the Department of Business Law at Rivers State University Dr. Arugu William, in an interview with our reporter said local communities are suffering and have been abandoned for too long in Rivers State. He said the few doctors in the local villages have no amenities on ground to sustain their stay there. He urges the governor to take good schools and colleges to the villages.
The senior lecturer in the Department of Business Law at Rivers State University asked Governor Siminalaye Fubara to decentralize development from Port Harcourt, emphasizing that this step is crucial for the overall culture in the state. He however provided tangible ideas for areas that demand immediate government attention. He said the governor should decentralize Port Harcourt by taking the Rivers State University out of Port Harcourt and selling off the property to other investors, then expand Ahuda, Degema, and Bori. He also said that the governor should push development to Etche by taking the Ministry of Agriculture there, diversifying the Ministry of Agriculture to two, and taking the aqua part of it to Degema.
In another development, a security analyst Stanley Nsofor is asking the Commissioner of Police to keep an eagle eye on officers extorting motorists in the State. Stanley Nsofor told our reporter that the open extortion of the members of the police along major roads is becoming worrisome. He explained that in times like this, fuel is almost N700. Commercial drivers buy at exorbitant rates, yet police stand on the road to collect money from them, at the end of the day, commercial drivers transfer it to the passengers who are the Rivers people. He therefore urged the Commissioner of Police to dismantle all those roadblocks, set up the CP Monitoring Team, and they should be active to see where these things are happening. Stating that there is no way he will want to fight crime while his men are busy committing crime.
The security analyst Stanley Nsofor however urged Rivers residents to volunteer information on the happenings within their localities so that the police can proactively deal with criminality in the State. He complained bitterly that some of the time, these criminals have brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers and they know that they are criminals but fails to go and report to the police. He advised the people to help the police by reporting crime. Stating that when you see something, say something in order to keep the State safe.
