The Rivers State Chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, is worried by the continued harassment and intimidation of motorists and other road users in Port Harcourt and its environs by all manner of people in uniform who claim to be working for government to enforce laws and order.
In a statement issued and signed by the Publicity Secretary of ACN, Jerry Needam, the menace constituted by these touts has reached an alarming crescendo yet the state government continues to turn blind eye to it.
More surprising is that most of these illegal law enforcers have resorted to night operations often aided and backed up by security operatives notably, the police and soldiers, the statement noted.
The statement further said that the persistent denials of these groups by the state government no longer make sense and want the relevant authorities to make public the names of authorized groups for law enforcement, their functions and beats, and most importantly, approved time and areas of operation to differentiate them from ordinary bandits.
Not doing so makes nonsense of the security measures claimed to have been put in place by the government, the ACN publicity secretary, Jerry Needam, argued.
Mr Needam, also urged road users particularly motorists not to panic at the sight of touts that confront them illegally which he said, makes them to offer gratifications to the hoodlums.
If they operate for sometime without extorting money from their victims, definitely they will run out of business and begin to think of doing more legitimate businesses, the ACN stressed.
In another development, The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) says much is not being done by the Rivers State Government in the area of creating awareness about the HIV/AIDS virulent disease Jerry Needam, ACN Publicity Secretary in Rivers State disclosed this today in Port Harcourt, on the occasion of 2011 World HIV/AIDS Day.
The party urged Rivers State Government to invest more in creating awareness about HIV/AIDS.
According to ACN, “HIV/AIDS has to do with life, government should asa matter of urgency embark on awareness campaign in all communities in the State, engage the local town criers, use local languages, create bill boards and partner with the media to create the needed consciousness”.
The party regretted that government has abandoned this very important aspect of the fight against HIV/AIDS.
The party further regretted that somewhat, government has politicized the HIV/AIDS programmes, by using it to patronize party faithfuls, just to put money in their pockets. ###
