By Anayo Okoli

UMUAHIA—Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State has appealed to well-to-do Ndigbo and people from the old Eastern Region of Nigeria to invest in the region to create jobs, saying it is the only way to curb the rising rate of crimes and criminality and other forms of insecurity bedevilling the region.

Ikpeazu

Governor Ikpeazu, who said that government alone could not provide the needed employment opportunities to curb insecurity in the region, also called for collaborative efforts of state governments in the region in the fight against insecurity.

Ikpeazu spoke, weekend, in Awka, at one-day South-East/Delta states’ Security Conference hosted by the Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State.

Speaking at the conference which was aimed at finding a lasting solution to the security challenge facing the South-East and Delta, Dr. Ikpeazu said that he was “convinced that crime with criminality is a great threat to our prosperity and progress as a people.

“Crime has really touched and affected our values. We are a hard-working people, but crimes have been imported into our lexicon, lifestyles that have derailed us and it is fast destroying our values. Not until we come together to fight crime, our hopes and aspirations as the people of old Eastern Region will remain a mirage.

“We must rise up to protect the value which we are known for, which is hard work. We must do everything we can to hold down crime and criminals in our areas.

“I want to call on Ndigbo, like I did in Lagos during the week, to look back home and join in our current fight against crimes and criminality in our region.

“We expect our people to join in this fight by investing in the region, and help in finding solution to the problem of unemployment that has created rooms for all kinds of crimes and criminality in our region.”