The Ebonyi State Government has commenced a two-day training for members of Neighbourhood Watch ahead of the forthcoming Christmas period.

The training was organised by the state Ministry for Border, Peace and Conflict Resolution with the theme, ‘Ebonyi Must Remain Free of Crime’, held at the International Conference Centre in Abakaliki the state capital.

The State Commissioner of the Ministry of Border, Peace and Conflict Resolution, Chief Stanley Okoro Emeka, while briefing journalists said members of neighbourhood watch are civilians who were engaged by the state government to assist in the security of the state

“So the training will help to prepare them for the troubles ahead. You know armed robbers can never stop, so far so good what you can see in Ebonyi State generally is a pocket crime but we are doing all we can to bring it to the barest minimum.

“They need to have the knowledge, not only carrying arms, they need to know the technical knowhow. You see the intelligent aspect of it is impacted to them. It will make them know that, yes, they have other agencies who have the capacity to use arm that if there is anything happening in the corner you are, you can place call.

“And then, you see this people they are more on ground than the security agencies, so they can easily get report and give to the security agencies.”

Speaking on the rate of drugs abuse in the state, Emeagha said: “l tell you very honestly these things are being rigged off in the state, you see the record book previously you can get (between) 24 and 36 arrests in a month but this time around, they have only seven and even four arrests. So, we’re bringing everything down.

“We have rehabilitation homes at Izzi, Ikwo and Afikpo local government areas of the state.

“We are very close to December. Many people will be visiting home. So we want to maintain what we have been known for; Ebonyi State is known as the most peaceful state in the country so we want to do everything we know we can do to complement the efforts of the State Governor and the security agencies to maintain that.”