Mr Victor Meju, Senior Special Assistant on Power and Water Resources to Gov. Willie Obiano of Anambra, has called on communities in the state to protect government’s installations in their areas against vandalism.
Meju made the call on Thursday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Awka.
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He said that it was the civic responsibility of the people to safeguard public facilities in their areas.
He said that protecting the installations from attack by miscreants would help to ensure that the facilities served the purpose for which government spent huge resources to provide them.
Meju said that the wanton destruction of public facilities by vandals amounted to sabotage against good governance in the state.
He said, “We have taken stock of all the vandalised street lights across the state in order to replace them and restore light at all the flashpoints but we will not treat the act of vandalism with kid gloves any more.”
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He said that a committee had been set up by the Commissioner for Public Utilities, Mr Emeka Ezenwanne, to take stock of all the vandalised street lights to be able to make them functional again.
“Any individual caught in the act of vandalising any government installations in any part of Imo will be made to face the full wrath of the law,” he said.
Meju said that some vandals caught in the past were handed over to the security agencies for prosecution.
He said that more punitive actions would be employed in handling cases of vandalism in order to serve as deterrent to others.
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Meju described the Light Up Anambra Project as part of the governor’s efforts to sustain the effective security network in the state, in addition to restoring night life across the state.
He therefore appealed to community leaders and the citizenry to be watchful over public facilities near their homes because they were installed with tax payers money for the people.
According to him, “it is the civic responsibility of the people to take ownership of government facilities in their areas by keeping watch over them.
