B
y Dr Innocent Chidumebi Okonkwo.
The Aguleri National Youth Association otherwise known as ANYA Aguleri has given operators of night clubs, hotels, lounges among others an ultimatum of three months to put internal security measures in place to discourage drug abuse, drug peddling and other criminal activities in their establishments in the overall best interest of their businesses and security of the town.
In a letter released to the press after the Easter meeting with stakeholders in the hospitality industry at Erico Guest House Aguleri, the Youth Executive led by Com. Emeka C Chinwuba stated that intelligence report indicated that there was increase in drug abuse among youths and minors, and that such was dangerous to efforts of the community and State Government to promote the night economy of the community and the entire State.
He further stated that through the efforts of the leadership of the town, there had been many initiatives and programmes geared toward ensuring a 24-hour economy for the community, and that despite the successes recorded in recent time, there were grey areas which must be jointly tackled by both the stakeholders and operators in line with the principle of community policing and security partnership to ensure that minors are not lodging in their hotels.
The letter read: “One of such areas is the issue of Minors that are accommodated in our hotels, drug peddling, drug use and abuse. Intelligence report at our disposal reveals that there is increased drug peddling, drug abuse in most of our night clubs, lounges, hotels and so on across the communities. Young men and women freely use narcotic substances at times in the seating areas, at times more hidden in the toilet areas of our clubs, lounges, hotels to the knowledge of the operators but they are doing nothing about it. This is wrong.
“The scourge of drugs and its attendant effect not only health wise on the young population but also that sheer fact that there is a very clear correlation between drug and crime is something that should make every responsible indigene worried. The ease with which our youths are getting access to drugs at clubs, lounges, hotels and so on is worrisome and our meeting resolved to send a very strong signal to operators that it is not going to be business as usual.”
The letter read that it had also been observed that some hotels in the town now give rooms to minors and also sell alcoholic drinks to them, while under-aged girls were also being allowed to use such establishments for prostitution, saying that such was very criminal and capable of leading to crimes.
“In addition, we also have the issue of criminals hibernating and having save haven in some hotels and clubs, these days. This is very dangerous for the security of the town and the State in general. We have it on good authority that some of these establishments are used as meeting points to plan crimes before their execution”
ANYA said in as much as the task force have the capacity to arrest any operator found aiding such, but that they were engaging the stakeholders in line with the principle of community policing and security partnership to tackle the menace frontally, while any operator found culpable would henceforth be arrested, shamed and handed over to police for prosecution in accordance with the law.
Going forward, the Association said the hotel owners were given from 30th April to 31st July 2024 to comply with the directivevs and install at least two security gadgets such as CCTV cameras among others to cover their establishments and also record information of their guests and visitors as that may be useful at any material time.