Worried by the rate at which our youths get involved in cult related activities, substance abuse, sexual gender based violence and other vices which has left some of them imprisoned and others either being killed or maimed by their rival groups as well as its attendant consequences in our society, the Inspector General of Police, IGP Mohammed Abubakar Adamu came up with a well though-out programme of action in line with his firm believe in community policing tagged POLICE CAMPAIGN AGAINST CULTISM AND OTHER VICES (POCACOV) aimed at saving our youth from the claws of cultism and other vices and thereby making our environment safe and secure.
This intervention further became necessary in view of some observation(s) bothering on some artisans such as Drivers, Mechanics, Mason, Tricycle and okada riders, bus conductors, traders amongst others’ involvement and of course, some female and political class involvement in cult related activities.
With these developments, security challenges became increasingly alarming since cultism has been identified as the mother of all crime.
Indeed, the Police Campaign Against Cultism and Other Vices (POCACOV) took the center stage as designed by the Inspector General of police and in line with the community oriented policing tenets in a holistic effort to interface with different stakeholders towards raising their consciousness and adequate awareness and galvanizing their support towards reducing the menace and incidences of cultism and other vices in our society.
This also means that the Inspector General of police IGP Mohammed Abubakar Adamu was right that sheer brute force and core law enforcement approaches are not enough to combat cases of cultism and that the community needs to be mobilized and engaged as stipulated in the stakeholders mapping of community oriented policing which requires that issues are to be identified, analyzed and prioritized before communities are engaged for a safe and secured environment.
It was also the view of the Inspector General of police borne out of his thinking outside the box that fresh ideas needed to be injected in the ways Nigeria Police Force have been combating Cultism with a view to securing the support of the community.
It is worthy of note that the Police campaign Against Cultism and Other Vices (POCACOV) was built on four thematic areas such as;
- Sensitizing members of the public on the dangers of belonging to secret cult.
- Re-Awakening the security consciousness of members of the public.
- Inculcating moral values in our youths and
- Re-awaken that of the adults.
Educating Relevant stakeholders such as; traditional rulers, town union presidents, political class, youth leaders, market union and leaders, parents and caregivers, student and student leaders amongst others with the message content as SAY NO TO CULTISM AND OTHER VICES, AND BE A CHAMPION,
Today, the programme since after its National Flag off by the Inspector General of police IGP Mohammed Abubakar in Enugu on 29th August,2019 is now gathering momentum, gaining new grounds and achieving the desired goal and objectives as many of our youths, school children, stake holders/members of the public through community oriented policing approaches have been sensitized and re-oriented through POCACOV various intervention prorammes like; VISIT ALL COMMUNITIES, VISIT ALL SCHOOLS, VISIT ALL MARKETS AND SQUARES, VISIT ALL CHURCHES/MOSQUE AND OTHER WORSHIP CENTRES, TOWN HALL MEETING, SEMINARS AND WORKSHOPS AS WELL AS PUBLICATION OF POCACOV BOOKS AND LEAFLETS, CAPS AND T-SHIRTS AND THE USE OF THE NEW MEDIA AND CONVENTIONAL MEDIA AND JINGLES.
The programme brought about the inauguration of the NYSC POCACOV community development service (NYSC POCACOV CDS) by the Inspector General of police to help drive the message ofPOCACOV to all the nooks and crannies of our country and also worthy of note is the inauguration of POCACOV Ambassadors drawn from broad spectrum of NOLLYWOOD ACTORS/ACTRESSES and Artiste with clean records to drive the message of POCACOV as influencers using their platforms.
The Inspector General of police IGP Mohammed Abubakar Adamu has made sure that all the Police Public Relation officers were sensitized as drivers of the programme in all the states of the federation and importantly, the domiciling of POCACOV in all police commands to be maned by an officer not below the rank of superintendent of police heading the intervention which is being coordinated nationwide by CSP Ebere Amaraizu.
There is also the Inspector General of police POCACOV Resource centre situated in Enugu at the state police headquarters.The resource centre is headed by the National Coordinator and it is a centre of interface and development of campaign modules for internal and external public and importantly Juvenile crime prevention modules as well as parents and caregivers roles amongst others.
The police Campaign Against Cultism and Other Vices (POCACOV) is all about you and need your support and partnership to save our youth from the claws of cultism and other vices. The time to act is now!
