Deputy Speaker Kalu Unveils Action Plan To End Insecurity In South East

The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, has unveiled eight pillars of development and ending security challenges in the South East.

He rolled out the plan through a Non-Governmental Organisation known as Peace In South East Project (PISE-P) which aimed at ending insecurity within six-months.

The strategy is a non-kinetic approach towards ending the security challenges in the south east.

The PISE-P launched 8 thriving areas towards achieving peace in the zone. These include education; agriculture; commerce/industry; infrastructural development culture and tourism; governance/leadership training and reconciliation/integration

Speaking virtually on the ‘South East Political Roundtable’, a current affairs radio programme on FLO FM in Umuahia, the convener of the project and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Benjamin Kalu said that the 6 months strategic plan will see to the improvement of healthcare delivery amongst other developmental pursuits.

“We already have what we call our six months strategic plan, our operational plan that will be addressing socio-economic challenges, enhancing security and peace building, stakeholder engagement, strategic implementation, resource management, monitoring and evaluation, communication and awareness,” Kalu stated.

According to him, “All these things have been done by experts and we are looking at achieving, promoting sustainable development, those goals.

“We look at conflict integration and peace building. We are going to be looking at enhancing access to education and healthcare. We are going to look at infrastructural development, empowerment and capacity building, community engagement and participation and sustainable peace and stability.

“These things I am talking about are some of the things that will be happening in the next six months and there are economic performance indicators, the KPI that we will be using to measure our progress in the next six months, economic activities as it is.

“We are going to be looking at the percentage increase in job opportunities created among the women. We are going to be looking at income level, those in average incomes that are in targeted communities.

“We are going to be looking at business development, the number of new businesses established or supported, the number of businesses we can bring back to the South East through our advocacy like I told you 15 billionaires were there. They came to watch what is happening and to say they are in support of it because they want their businesses to thrive here.

“We are going to be looking at healthcare accessibility which will include increased access to healthcare services and facilities.

“We are going to be looking at community engagement, participation in community programmes and events, there will be a lot of town hall meetings,” Kalu said.

Kalu also revealed that a town hall meeting with all the lawmakers across the five eastern States of Abia, Anambra, Imo, Ebonyi and Enugu in the south east geopolitical zone was due in April this year to discuss strategic lawmaking, conflict resolution among other issues.

“There is a town hall meeting that is coming for the entire South East which is going to be around the Easter period where we are going to meet with all the legislators in one room and they are going to discuss how they want the legislative year to look like, it is coming up as part of our project.

“And we are going to have security and peace indicators, and conflict resolution. We are going to be looking at a decrease in community conflicts or disputes.

“We are also going to look at the crime rate within the next six months, reducing the crime rate within targeted areas that we are going to pick as flashpoints.

“We are also going to be looking at peaceful co-existence which is going to focus on an increase in interactions among diverse community groups.

“And then also another indicator is the one that has to do with infrastructural and development indicators, infrastructural improvement, progress in infrastructure development e.g roads constructions.

“And also project milestones, we are going to look at completion rate of infrastructural projects within specified timeline. One thing is to attract infrastructure, the already existing infrastructure, what is the timeline for their completion, who is pushing the agenda to make sure they are completed early enough.

“If the state is doing the one for the state, what of the one for the federal government, who is pushing it. These are the kinds of jobs we are going to be doing”, he said.

The Deputy Speaker however appealed to the people still hiding in the bush with guns in their hands to come out and drop them as there are efforts to give them a fresh start.

“It is not about talk, everything has been applied, it is not politics. What we have packaged is for the cerebral, is for the deep thinking people to understand and comprehend what we want to do.

“We have worked with development agencies, the United Nations, we are gathering some experts together to make sure we heal our land and it is going to be impactful and I can assure you the South East will not remain the same.

“And all the boys who are carrying guns there is hope for them because we are going to get them gainfully employed for them to give them alternatives because they are our brothers, they are not going to be slaughtered, they are not going to be wasted, it is for everybody, we are going to bring them closer and give them sense of importance,” Hon. Kalu said.