Kogi State governor, Ahmed Usman Ododo, on Saturday stormed communities previously overtaken by criminal elements in Omala local government area with a commitment to clear all criminal enclaves in the area.
Ododo, who visited Bagaji-Odo, Agojeju-Ododo and Bagana communities, which have been targeted by assailants in recent times promised to facilitate the establishment of Forward Operation Base by the Nigerian Army in the area in line with the determination of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to confront security challenges in all parts of Nigeria.
While in Bagana, Ododo decried the senseless killings and destruction of property in the community due to excessive greed and selfish interests of some leaders in the community who allegedly invite criminals from neighbouring communities to attack perceived enemies.
Ododo promised to restore peace to Bagana community, assuring that all those behind attacks in Bagana will not go unpunished.
The caretaker chairman of Omala local government, Mark Edibo, said conflict over control of natural resources led to the unrest that has brought wanton destruction of lives and property upon Bagana community and appealed to the governor to come to the aid of the community by providing enabling environment to restore the once thriving economy in the area.
Earlier, during his visit to Agojeju-Ododo, Ododo sympathised with the people of the community over recent spate of attacks that claimed lives and property in the community.
The governor promised to make wide ranging interventions in the area, by addressing security lapses in the community and the construction of Idrisu-Okpotala-Bagaji-Odo-Agojeju-Odo road to ensure security of farmlands and access to markets for farm produce in the area.
Meanwhile, Ododo has urged young people in the state to focus on positive narratives in their engagement on social media. The governor gave the charge in a message to a one-day training programme in Lokoja organised by Ododo Media Centre for media influencers and content creators as part of activities marking the first 100 days in office of Ododo as governor.
Represented by his Special Adviser on Media, Ismail Isah, who declared the programme open, he enjoined the participants to go beyond amplifying fault-lines of the people and concentrate on issues that unite citizens of the state, stressing that the real spokespersons of the government are the people outside the government who go out of their way to project policies and programme of the government.
The governor said that the training was aimed at building the capacity of persons helping to promote activities of government to have the knowledge new developments and be able to train more social media users to amplify government programmes and policies.
He explained that this will in turn serve as an effective feedback mechanism so as to build a robust engagement between government and people who own the government.
More importantly, he noted that the workshop would skill up the capacity of the younger generation in digital information communication strategy while promoting good governance.
While encouraging the participants to go outside their ranks in engaging people of diverse views, he implored the content creators to involve in community engagement to communicate impactful projects of government to their various audience.