Delta State Governor, Senator Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, has urged security agencies to urgently, tackle the menace of secret cults in the society.

Governor Okowa made the call yesterday in Asaba when the new Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr Mohammadu MustaFa, paid him a familiarisation visit.

He frowned at the level of cultism in the country and charged security operatives to as a matter of urgency, curb the trend, noting that parents, teachers, also, share in the blame for not properly guiding the youths.

“Alarming rise in cultism can be attributed to poor home training, peer group influence, negligence of parents inculcating morals to the children, there is need to educate children from their formative stages to have respect for human lives, parents must spend more time with the children and teachers must pay attention to pupils in the schools; this will help reduce the challenges policemen face in the society. Security agencies should take it as a serious challenge to check the rise of cultism,” Okowa said.

The Governor congratulated the Commissioner for his posting to the state, saying: “Security is not about the police and the military, it is about partnership between the civil society and security operatives for the desired peace to be achieved.

“There is the need for us to know ourselves and realise that even with our positions in government, we have a lot of roles to play in achieving peace in the society, the Police in the state is working hard, they need to work harder because, if we have a more peaceful state, it will be better for all of us.”

He called for effective synergy between security agencies in the areas of sharing of information for effective results to be achieved.

While assuring the police and other security agencies of his administration’s commitment to supporting them to succeed, Okowa disclosed that a Board for Security Trust Fund would soon be constituted in the state to raise funds to complement what government us doing to assist security agencies.

On his part, the new Police Commissioner assured Governor Okowa and all Deltans that “the police will not allow the peace we are enjoying in the state to drop, we will adopt preventive measures to checking crime and criminal activities in the state.”

•Photo shows Delta State PDP Chairman, Barr. Kingsley Esiso; Hon. Izeze Rueben; Hon. Okoh Chukwuyem and former PDP Chairman, Chief Edwin Uzor, during a courtesy call on Governor Okowa, by Ohanaeze Ndigbo Group, in Government House Asaba.