A meeting said to be held by Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State aimed at reviving the state’s abandoned security agency has already drawn some flaks with calls for extreme care.
The concerns are oozing right from the inside as top commanders of the Rivers State Neighbourhood Watch (RSNW) have shown worry that a local council operative was made to lead the agency to meet with the governor instead of the commanders at the headquarters.
The governor has thus, been advised to follow due process and be extra-careful in both the revival effort and who would be handed the agency to manage.
On August 21, 2024, news rang out of the Government House that Fubara just held a closed-door meeting with some members of security agency led by someone called “Head of Command.” The head of the RSNW is a Director-General and the office is at the headquarters being the Rivers State Secretariat in Port Harcourt.
The news of the plans to revive the agency was issued by the Government Media Unit, saying that “Governor Fubara spoke on the consideration of reviving the security outfit when he met with its leaders behind closed doors at the Government House in Port Harcourt on Tuesday night.
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“Briefing newsmen after the meeting, the Head of Command, Rivers State Neighbourhood Watch, Wogbo Isaac Lawrence, said they were overwhelmed with the assurances given by Governor Fubara after six years of neglect by the previous administration.
“Lawrence explained that despite the lack of attention, no encouragement and remuneration, the security outfit had struggled on its own in sustaining about 1,150 personnel that it has posted, representing 50 each to the 23 Local Government Areas of the State.”
The leader of delegation went ahead to say that he gave the governor the details of staff strength, saying: “For now, we are 50 persons per Local Government Area (LGA). So, we have a total of 23 LGAs, and we are 1,150 personnel of the agency. Before we leave here, there is an assignment given to us, and it is to fight oil theft in our locality. We are promising Rivers people that we are going to do something concerning it.”
When contacted, the Director-General (DG) of the agency, Mike Chukwuma, a retired assistant commissioner of police and once a seasoned police public relations officer (PPRO) in Rivers State, admitted that the personnel were happy about the hints of reviving the agency but that there were concerns about the approach.
Chukwuma, who became popular as ‘the Noble Policeman’ which was title of his first novel as a police officer, said: “Every Rivers man and woman knows who the head of that agency is. Questions should have been asked why that person is not around (not part of the team allowed to visit the governor). Questions should also be asked who this person is that led the team to the Government House. They should have asked, who signed this application to see His Excellency on behalf of the agency? Who was he in the Agency? It looks like such questions were not asked.”
He said that the abandonment of the Rivers State Neighbourhood Watch (RSNW) for years by the immediate past administration that established it remained a surprise to most observers.
“That lull and silence by government and non-payment of salaries for years discouraged everybody. We have been very active for a long while despite non-payment of salaries.
“We have since submitted an application to visit and brief the present governor on the agency. We assume the application has to take time because of due process. So, we are still waiting for response.
“You see, security is not something you play with, in any area and any circumstance. Desperation is something I don’t like in my life. It is incumbent on the governor or his prerogative to revive or reactivate the agency, but in trying to do so, those in authority are not supposed to engage and talk with anybody without knowing his or her background,” he said.
He expressed surprise that the entire command heads in the headquarters were absent in the visit to the governor when he believed the governor had full information at his disposal.
He said: “When His Excellency was the Accountant-General of the state, he was very much informed about the workings of the agency because I was relating with him. Even when frustrations started coming in, I related with him because the then governor (Nyesom Wike) directed me to do so. He has all the documents on the manpower of that agency and the head of the agency.
“If therefore, there is anything to discuss with that agency, I didn’t see how the person that represented the agency would not be visible, instead of somebody that is not even a management staff.
“What I saw or what I heard is about a member of the personnel in a local government area appearing or claiming to be a commander or whatever title that he allocated to himself as head of the agency. That is very abnormal. I know that His Excellency has a lot in his mind but I want to say that all details about the agency are contained in a document which I personally took to him. So, anything about the agency is with him.”
The DG however, noted that the governor has every right to appoint anybody as new head of the agency but that advice would need to be taken so he does not appoint someone that would embarrass the state. “Security is everybody’s business (concern) but not everybody is a security manager.
“I do not like show of frustration. The agency was set up to finetune security in the state and work on a laid down pattern, professionally designed. It is not to operate on taskforce pattern or an ‘agbero’ thing.”
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There are things the governor needs to know in reactivating the agency:
Chukwuma insisted that there were things the governor must know if he wanted to revive the agency. “It is not about me; it is about who knows the job and whose character fits the mode of a suitable head. It is not about sentiment or nepotism, or people pushing somebody up. No. There are things the Governor needs to know if he wants to reactivate the agency.
“There are other Rivers people who are patriotic and who know their onions in security management. It is not about me. It is not about the title anybody wears but about knowing the job and delivering to public expectation.”
He agreed that since the agency already had a structure and the head is still there by law, that their only challenge is funding. He also agreed that replacing the headship required due process because there was no vacuum.
He responded thus: “We were not disbanded and nobody disbanded anybody. We are all waiting for the government to call us and discuss about funding, which was exactly what I was on with him until he was elected governor. Now, things are the way they are. We just have to wait until we are called, but as far as I am concerned, if there was a meeting (I was told it was a closed-door meeting), I think coming out to publicise such a private and informal audience by the self-acclaimed commander or head, shows somebody who does not understand the onions of security.”
Fault may have started:
He said some of the moves and mode of breaking the news seem strange. “That is where the fault has started, deficiency has already started with that. Security management is not for everybody.
“It was very good news to hear that the agency is to be revived, but it is shocking news that so and so persons who were not even part of the management but personnel at the LGA now headed the team that are discussing the revival of the agency with the Chief Executive and the Chief Security Officer of the state. That can be called impersonation, if you want to call it by its proper name.”
The way forward:
On the way forward, Chukwuma called for due process.
“Due process should be followed, and not only due process, but carefulness must be applied. As a professional and specialist in security and an expert in general security, I think community-based security (policing) architecture is a very sensitive area of security which needs not be headed by roadside security people.
“If they want to revive that agency, I think due consultations are needed so that the state does not regret doing the right thing in the wrong way by the mistakes of those they may likely mistakenly hand it over to. We all have seen what taskforces have done. It has always been gory tales. I know who is who by character, local government by local government, especially this period the personnel are exposed to temptation (due to absence of salaries for years) when people did a lot of things. We just swallowed things, though we know the characters. Rushing down to the governor to claim to be head shows desperation,” he said.
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