As part of the United Kingdom’s ongoing support and partnership with Nigeria to counter serious and organized crime, the UK government has approved funding for a new 3-year project, and a team that will include UK Police officers will be visiting Edo State on the 28 of February.
This was disclosed by David Otto, the Team Lead of TorchLight Group, UK during a visit to the Edo State Secretary to Government, Osarodion Ogie Esq in his office in Benin City.
According to him, the project which seeks to support the prevention of young people becoming involved in serious organized crime is to be implemented in four states, Bayelsa, Edo, Lagos, and Zamfara.
“The UK government is partnering with the Nigerian government to prevent serious organized crime which is an issue that affects everyone. Last year I was commissioned to look for a team in the states, including Edo state for a pilot project to research on serious organized crime, and that research was approved for intervention and recently the UK government signed a partnership agreement with the Nigerian government to prevent serious organized crime.
“This is part of the implementation of the project which is a Nigerian own project in four states. It is going to be for three years and some of our UK partners including UK Police officers will be coming in on the 28 of this month.
“They will come and share their own experiences on how to navigate the difficult turf and also learn. We are looking at community engagement with stakeholders and to establish a framework which will be sustainable,” he added.
The Secretary to Edo State Government, Osarodion Ogie Esq. said the state government is interested in the partnership considering the spate of youth’s involvement in Yahoo and illegal migration, adding that the state government is setting up a task force to monitor every unnumbered vehicle plying the roads.
“We are going to share our experiences with you about some of the things we have done and the activities of these youths who move around in the city on drugs, drunk without a drivers license. It is so sad that some of their parents look for money to buy laptops for them and they go around staying in hotels,” he added.
The Project Manager, Emeka Ukatu thanked the Edo State Secretary to Government for the warm and prompt reception noting that the Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice, ANEEJ is sub-granting to another NGO in Bayelso called Development Initiators and the project is at inception stage(January-March 2022)