October 15, (THEWILL) — The Chairman of the National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), Ebonyi State Chapter, Comrade Douglas Ochishi, has restated the commitment of the youth body to combat child trafficking and kidnapping, particularly in Ebonyi State and Nigeria in general.
Speaking to journalists in Abakaliki on Tuesday, Comrade Ochishi assured that NYCN was going to collaborate with relevant security agencies to bring to an end to the menace of kidnaping, children trafficking and sundry crimes in the society.
He disclosed that the 36 state chairmen of NYCN would be meeting at the end of the month to synergise on security.
Comrade Douglas Ochishi further revealed his engagement with relevant stakeholders to include the clergy, traditional rulers and youth leaders as a way of stamping out the scourges of child trafficking and kidnapping.
“So, it’s part of our plan that we’ll be having the meeting of the 36 states chairmen with by the end of this month to synergise more on the issue of digital security, child trafficking, amongst others.
“However, in Ebonyi State here you know I’ve been canvassing for it. And once again, I still want to restate my mindset on our strategy”, he said.
He maintained that he had reached out to relevant stakeholders, including traditional rulers, clergies and youth leaders to sensitise them on the need to be security conscious in their various communities.
“I told you last time that we are still engaging the stakeholders from various communities, reaching out to clergies, reaching out to traditional rulers, reaching out to youth leaders.
“The other day, I was with the traditional ruler of Inyima Agbaja autonomous community, where we have interface. The community is at the boundary of Ebonyi State and Benue State.
“So, I was able to advocate the need for everyone to be alert. If you see an unknown face, that is, if you see something, say something. Because that is the only way we can quench that insecurity.
“You don’t need things to happen before it starts putting calls across. The issue of child trafficking, I have talked to them. If you go to various communities, you know, they normally take off from a community park”, he explained.
He also expressed disappointment how adults look the other way and allow children of school age to go into trafficking.
“Then how can an old man take a girl child or a boy child and you look at that person and you know that the child is of school age and allow that child to be trafficked without asking questions like, Where are you taking that child to? That is the question everybody in our community and our locality should ask.
“Where is this child going? Who is the owner of this child? What is the name of this child? So, from there, if there is anything going on, the trafficker will know that, yes, people are beginning to discover and so on and so forth. And if it becomes serious, put calls across”, he added.
Meanwhile, Comrade Douglas Ochishi extended warm congratulations to Comrade Babangida Onimisi Isah on his emergence as the newly elected National President of the NYCN, following a keenly contested election.
He commended the process, supervised by the National Transition Committee (NTC) as transparent and credible, with Comrade Isah polling 243 votes out of 497 accredited delegates to defeat his closest rival, Comrade Ahmad Abubakar, who secured 228 votes.
In a similar vein, Comrade Celestine Chukwumerije, leader of Ebia Development Centre Union of Undergraduates, commended Ochishi’s leadership, citing his mentorship and community impact.
“He’s not just a leader; he’s one of us. Our visit is to show solidarity and collaborate on upcoming educational initiatives like ‘Sense the Session’, focused on adult education and capacity-building”, Chukwumerije said.
Sunday Ogbu is a professional journalist with eight - twelve years experience that had worked with various print and online media. Sunday specializes in news reporting with the aim of educating his readers on current social, political and economic occurences within his area of coverage. Sunday is a strong force to work with in the media industry and uses his positive attitude and tireless energy to encourage others to work hard and succeed. Sunday is inspired daily by his wife and their four children. In his free time, Sunday likes sight-seeing, reading and discussing issues of societal interest.
