Following the recent abduction of over 20 passengers along the Oron-Calabar waterways, former Anambra State Commissioner of Police, Aderemi Adeoye, has attributed the poor security response to challenging topography and \u2018overstretched\u2019 marine policing resources.<\/p>\n
Speaking during Monday\u2019s edition of Channels Television\u2019s The Morning Brief, Adeoye highlighted communication difficulties exacerbated by the terrain, describing the waterways as a major barrier to swift incident response.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen incidents like this happen, the problem of communication has to do with the topography of where the incident occurred \u2014 the waterways,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Adeoye explained that the Police Marine Section, which is responsible for securing the waterways, is severely overstretched. He attributed this to inadequate patrol equipment and insufficient personnel to cover the vast and often remote aquatic routes.<\/p>\n
\u201cPolicing on water is done by the Police Marine Section, and just like land forces are overstretched, the Marine Police capabilities are more than overstretched because the equipment they have, both to patrol waterways and personnel, are not the numbers they should be,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
He stressed that these limitations hinder the Marine Police\u2019s capacity to maintain a consistent and effective presence, leaving critical areas vulnerable to criminal activities such as kidnappings.<\/p>\n
Adeoye pointed out that, in many cases, the absence of nearby boats during such incidents means there are no immediate witnesses to relay information to authorities.<\/p>\n
He stressed the importance of human intelligence and community engagement, suggesting that establishing robust relationships with local residents could facilitate quicker reporting of suspicious activities.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are in the communication age where all it takes is a call or text to alert the authorities, but people can only alert when they have the numbers,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n
The former commissioner also mentioned the need for improved collaboration between commands, particularly among neighbouring states sharing jurisdiction over the waterways.<\/p>\n
In the specific case of the Oron-Calabar abduction, he suggested that once Akwa Ibom confirmed the incident, they should have immediately alerted Cross River authorities to coordinate efforts in locating and rescuing the victims.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Frustrated by worsening insecurity, amid wide criticism of government\u2019s inability<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":107,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[6],"class_list":["post-106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-news"],"yoast_head":"\n