By Sunday Bassey Uyo – Gov. Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom on Wednesday, called for more collaboration between countries in tackling insecurity in the world.
Emmanuel, who made the call while interacting with Foreign Defence Attaches and Staff of the Defence Intelligence Agency at the Government House, Uyo said that stronger ties between countries would assist in combating insecurity.
The governor, who also called for stronger ties between countries, said that more collaboration was urgently needed in stemming the tide of terrorism in different countries.
“We believe that defence and security should be number one. We believe that once we get our nation secured, we can fight other vices that might actually derail what we do as a country.
“These days, people talk about cyber terrorism, fake news, rogue organisations, terrorist network and others that have occupied the global space.
‘’ I just want to believe that if all nations collaborate, we can actually fight terrorism and other security challenges to a minimal level,” he said.
The governor, who decried the spate of security challenges in different countries, said that his administration was committed to the development of the state’s air, road and water sectors.
The governor said that the proposed Safe City project would be directed at checkmating criminality and makes the state attractive to more investors.
“We are building a network that would promote the Ease Doing Business and make this state actually attractive to our foreign partners.
“We have also installed a whole lot of systems and technologies needed for effective security monitoring.
“We are just one state in this country that is in the process of implementing a safe city system that will actually enable proper monitoring and effective control of criminal activities.’’
Emmanuel commended the Defence Intelligence team for the visit, adding that there were huge investment opportunities that foreigners could exploit in the state.
The Chief of Defence Intelligence, AVM Musa Usman, represented by Brig.- Gen. Parker Undiandeye said that the team was on a study tour of the culture and people of the state.
Usman said that the team was impressed with the state’s success stories, adding that the visit had exposed members of the team to such achievements in the state.
He commended the governor on his outstanding leadership qualities which he noted had manifested in the state’s industrialisation drive, excellent infrastructure, peace and good security network.
Usman also lauded the state government’s “dakkada” reorientation philosophy, which he said had inspired the resident’s consciousness to hard work and successes.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the 22 attaches are from Denmark, Uganda, Japan, Russia, Ukraine , France , South Sudan, Turkey, Germany and other countries.