By Akeem Abas
Ibadan – Mr Iskilu Akinsanya, the Oyo State Commandant of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps(NSCDC), says the command has launched an Agro-Rangers initiative to help tackle the farmers- herders clashes in the state.
He made the disclosure on Tuesday during a courtesy visit to the Ibadan Zonal Office of the News Agency of Nigeria(NAN).
NAN reports that Akinsanya recently took over the headship of Oyo NSCDC Command from Mr John Adewoye who was transferred out of the state.
The NSCDC team, which had visited the Ibadan Zonal Office of NAN to solicit the continuous support of the agency, was received by staff led by its Zonal Manager, Mr Mufutau Ojo.
Akinsanya said that some officers of the NSCDC had been trained and deployed to various locations across the state to tackle farmers and herders clashes.
“Our mandate is to ensure security of lives and properties. This, we have been doing, and we won’t relent.
” This state is peaceful as a result of such initiatives and collaborative efforts of security agencies.
“But as part of our efforts, we have launched the ‘Agro-Rangers’ initiative and have deployed our trained personnel to various locations in the state to tackle the farmers and herders clashes,” Akinsanya said.
Akinsanya also said that the NSCDC had recorded tremendous successes from its Alternative Dispute Resolution(ADR) initiative, adding that over 2,500 cases had been resolved in the state.
“The NSCDC since the commencement of the ADR initiative has resolved over 37,000 cases across the country, while over 2,500 cases have been resolved through the Oyo State Command,” he said.
The NSCDC boss said that the command was able to achieve the successes through collaboration with human rights organisations and other civil society groups.
He thanked the management of NAN for its support to NSCDC, pledging to ensure that the existing cordial relationship between the two organisations was sustained.
In his remarks, Ojo thanked the NSCDC team for the visit, assuring them of the agency’s readiness to sustain the cordial relationship existing between the two institutions.
Ojo, a Deputy Editor-in-Chief with the agency, described NAN as a grassroots-based institution as well as a national purveyor of news and opinions for the public good.
He said the agency, which has offices in the 36 states of the federation as well as district offices in some localitities, remains committed to promoting harmonious relationship between the various groups in the country.
“There is a sense of commonality between NAN and NSCDC. NAN and NSCDC are everywhere in the country. With NSCDC everywhere, there is sense of security.
“Also, there is no media organisation that knows Nigeria like NAN. In NAN, we won’t relent on our mandate of information dissemination based on objectivity.
“There are lots of values we share together and we need to build on this synergy between the two institutions,” he said.
(NAN)