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The Nigeria Police Force, Nasarawa State Command has reinstated its commitment to partner the Nasarawa State Council of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) on crime prevention.
Bola Longe, Commissioner of Police (CP) in the state made disclosure in Lafia while he received the state officials of NUJ on a familiarization visit.
According to him, the importance of the media towards the development of all the sectors of the economy including security cannot be ignored hence the need for the partnership.
The Commissioner who had recently been promoted to Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG), said he has enjoyed a cordial relationship with journalists since he was posted to the state as CP in 2019.
He explained that the Police in the state under his leadership have been able to tackle kidnapping, armed robbery, cultism and other criminal activities to the extent that the state was recently rated the second safest state in the North-Central.
He added that all the black spots that were notorious of criminal activities prior to his coming to the state are now safe due to the security strategies adopted by the Command.
He said that journalists were always there reporting the feats achieved by the Police and other security agencies toward tackling crime and they would forever remained grateful to them.
The newly promoted AIG who is awaiting his next deployment by the Inspector General of Police (IG), also lauded Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State for his support throughout this period to the police in their fight against crime.
He said that the governor has demonstrated genuine determination to ensure there is peace across the state and in boarder communities with neighbouring states.
Responding to the request by Salihu Mohammed-Alkali, NUJ Chairman in the state, the Commissioner of Police therefore promised to deploy two armed Police personel to protect the NUJ Press Centre in Lafia.
Similarly, during the visit to the state Headquarters of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Mr Abbas Mohammed, Commandant of NSCDC promised to work closely with journalists to tackle criminal elements in the state.
The Commandant of NSCDC in the state said journalists are critical stakeholders in crime prevention, control and exposing the activities of criminal elements in any society.
Mr Mohamed also promised to always ensure that all media organisations in the state are allow to cover the activities of the command with a view of affectively informing the public.
He therefore promised to workout modalities for a security/media summit to enable the parties understand the working and importance of each other for a smooth working relationship.
Earlier in the two offices, Salihu Mohammed-Alkali, the NUJ Chairman, commended the two security outfits for their relentless efforts toward tackling criminality in the state, which according to him as yeilded positive results.
The NUJ Chairman assured them and indeed the state government of the support of the entire journalists to promote peace, unity and development of the state.
The NUJ Chairman however, said that journalists would always ensure they balance their stories in the interest of the overall development of the state.
He also requested that the security outfits should deploy their personnel to the NUJ Press Centre to protect journalists and others patronising the centre.