The Anglican Bishop of the Calabar Diocese Rt. Rev. Prof Nneoyi Egbe
By Anietie Akpan
The Anglican Communion, Calabar Diocese, has called on the Cross River State Government to confiscate and set buffer zones in every disputed land in the state.
The state for quite some time now has been enmeshed with incessant communal clashes by communities in the state resulting in loss of lives and property worth millions of naira hence the need to create the buffer zones order to check-mate mate communal clashes.
Bishop of the Calabar Diocese Rt. Rev. Prof Nneoyi Egbe, made the call during the first session of the 12th Synod of the Diocese of Calabar, which held at the St. Peters’s Anglican church, Ogoja recently.
He said , the church enjoined the government to be resolute in her policy direction towards finding a lasting solution to address it.
Egbe commended the Senator Bassey Otu’s led administration over the recent relative peace enjoyed, but said the issue of state police still remains a necessity.
Egbe stated that deliberate measures should be put in place to sustain the current tempo of security in the state, noting that the relative peace now enjoyed in the state didn’t come without a cost implication.
“We wish to commend the state government for the relative peace we have enjoyed in the state so far. While we recognise that this has not come without a cost, we pray that we will sooner than later return to the days when Cross River state was indeed a place where fear was a stranger.
“There is palpable hope among the people that we have a listening government in place. It is not yet Uhuru, so we would like to reiterate our earlier (at the inception of this regime) position that “we are watching”, he said.
The Anglican Bishop called on residents in the state to support the government’s efforts towards ensuring the safety of lives and property, adding that the task of security is “a collective responsibility”.
Egbe urged the Otu’s led government not to rest on its oars in spite of the reduced kidnap incidences recorded in the state lately, noting that the residents were still prone to danger.
“We appreciate the relative improvement on the security of lives and property in the state. We are particularly thankful at the lower reportage of kidnapping incidences. The state government and the security agencies are highly commended. Yet again, we must insist that we are far from safe yet.
We wish to implore everyone in Cross River state to take responsibility for security in the state. Community policing should be enhanced, and the recently touted state police is a welcome development. We wait to see the implementation”.
