OMPALAN Parleys Army, Police, DSS to Enhance Peace, Security at Niger Delta

Ikenna Orioha.

A concerned group, Oil and Solid Mineral Producing Area Landlords’ Association of Nigeria, OMPALAN, Imo State branch, has parleyed with 34 Artillery Brigade, Obinze, State Director of Security and Imo State Police Command geared to enhance peace and security at Imo Niger Delta region to promote comfort living and development.

The agreement for OMPALAN to work in consonant with security apparatuses to build effective security for protection of lives and properties was reached when the body paid familiarization visit to the Commander, 34 Artillery Brigade, Obinze, Brigadier-General Yusuf Ibrahim Tukura, Director, DSS, Mrs Iquo Arthur-Worrey and Imo State Commissioner of Police, CP Rabiu Ladodo, recently in Owerri.

Leading the leaders of the association on the courtesy visit, National Chairman of OMPALAN, Bishop Udo Azogu, explained that the “main cause of insecurity at the Imo State Oil Producing Areas is the criminal neglect of oil bearing communities that bear the brunt of heightening environmental degradation, exacerbated by massive diversion of funds from the State Interventionist Agency- ISOPADEC- by the tiny, but influential political class.

Bishop Udo Azogu said “OMPALAN has developed a home-grown blueprint for sustainable peace and security of Mineral Producing Areas called Mining Security and Monitoring Agency of Nigeria, MISMAN, which hinges on robust monitoring and service delivery mechanisms underpinning security of host communities and oil installations, as well as transparency in the management of palliative programs”.

Azogu while advising political parties and their supporters in the country particularly in Imo State to avail themselves of the robust institutions of governance to ventilate their grievances and allow security agencies the flexibility to shore up their constitutional responsibility of maintaining law and order without distraction, hinted that OMPALAN has set up a Committee for Harmonization of Relations between herders and farmers aimed to curb bloody clashes so that lawful and healthy business can continue to grow well.

In their responses, Commander, 34 Artillery Brigade, Obinze, Brigadier- General Yusuf Ibrahim Tukura, State Director of Security, Mrs Iquo Arthur- Worrey and Imo State Commissioner of Police, CP Rabiu Ladodo promised to work productively with OMPALAN to build effective security in Imo State especially at the Niger Delta region.

They commended the leadership of OMPALAN for their initiative and efforts to ensuring that lives and property of people are protected while indulging youths to shun vice in order to be useful to themselves and the region at large.

Notably, OMPALAN, according to Bishop Udo Azogu, is a high profile, non-religious federal government recognized umbrella of NGO, involving stakeholders in the oil, gas and solid mineral industry whose cardinal objective are to foster peace and security at host communities to ensuring protection of oil pipelines and facilities, facilitates delivery of social responsibility by development agencies to impacted communities and adoption of highest safety standards in the production of mineral resources in the country.

…©️News Corner.