Bayelsa State Government says it will handsomely reward youth leaders who play outstanding roles in collaborating with security agencies to get rid of cultists and drug peddlers in their communities.

The Deputy Governor, Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, said this during separate meetings with youth leaders from the Southern Ijaw and Sagbama Local Government Areas in Yenagoa.

Ewhrudjakpo, in a statement, said that substance abuse, cultism and criminality share a common relationship, stressing that the present administration would leave no stone unturned in its determination to reduce crime to the barest minimum in the state.

He called on the youth and community leaders to emulate the leadership of Imiringi town in the Ogbia Local Government Area who, recently, invited and supported security agencies to rid their communities of drug dealers and criminals terrorising the area.

He, therefore, charged the youths to cooperate with the government in the fight against kidnapping and other criminal activities, urging them also not to allow illegal crude oil refining popularly known as “kpo fire” in their areas.

The deputy governor said, “I told the youths of Ekeremor and Kolokuma/Opokuma LGAs the other day, and I’m repeating it today, that any youth president that makes his community free from crime of cultism and drug abuse will have an award from my office.

“This is one way we can use to encourage you to be part of the fight against crime. We have to fight to protect the future of our state.

“Those who are into criminal activities are few in any society. So why must we allow them to hold all of us to ransom? This government will not allow that. We are determined to do everything within our reach to flush them out from our communities.”

On their part, the service commanders, including the Commissioner of Police, Ben Okolo, the Area Commandant of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), ACM Bashir Oladosu and the State Director, Department of State Security (DSS), Femi Akin, appealed to the youths to cooperate with security agencies in the interest of peace and development.

The Chairman of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Central Zone, Clever Inodu, called on the youths of Bayelsa to take a decisive stand against electoral violence, vandalization of government property and other crimes in their communities.

TodayNG