Ohaneze applauds as Ugwuanyi Signs State Forest Guard Bill into Law

The Governor of Enugu State, Chief Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, has signed the State Forest Guard Bill, 2020, which was passed by the State House of Assembly, into law.

He also directed the chairmen of the local government areas in the state to ensure the effective implementation of the law.

This followed the expanded security meeting held at the government house Enugu on Thursday, which had in attendance traditional rulers, religious and opinion leaders, as well as the President General of the apex Igbo socio-cultural organization, Ohaneze Ndigbo, Chief John Nnia Nwodo Jr.

The closed door meeting, presided over by Governor Ugwuanyi, passed a vote of confidence on the governor for the way he has been discharging his responsibilities in the state as the Chief Security Officer.

Addressing journalists after the meeting, the President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Nnia Nwodo Jr, said that they took brief from Ugwuanyi on the recent security developments in the state as well as the actions taken by his administration to arrest the situation and ensure that the state remains safe and peaceful.

Nwodo, who said that those present at the meeting reaffirmed their conviction to continue to support Ugwuanyi’s good works in ensuring that the state remains one of the safest in the country, added that the governor informed them that “he has given a directive to all the Local Government Chairmen to rejig our security architecture in consultation with the traditional rulers and Presidents-General of town unions”.

By this law, the forest guards are now empowered to go into the forests, farms and caves in Enugu State to make arrests, especially where there are ample evidence that hoodlums and terrorist herders hybernate in such areas.

The President-General of Ohaneze Ndigbo also said that the Enugu State Governor; “briefed us about herdsmen activities in some of the local government areas and actions taken in consultation with the security agencies to show them the way out of those areas that these had occurred.”

Nwodo added that the governor briefed them how the State Security Council which held earlier in the week, on the recent DSS-IPOB clash in the state, and reassured them that “the state government would do everything in its powers to see that those found to have not acted in conformity with the law will be adequately dealt with”.

Justifying the vote of confidence, the President-General of the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, said: “In the last few days, an economic review of the state has shown that out of the six most viable states in Nigeria, Enugu State is one of them.

The viability of each state was recorded on the basis of their capacity to generate enough internally generated revenue to sustain their recurrent expenditure without dependence on federal allocations”.