Enugu Assembly passes State Security Trust Fund bill for crime prevention

The Enugu State House of Assembly has passed the Security Trust Fund Bill aimed at providing money for the acquisition and deployment of security equipment and human resources for crime prevention.

The executive bill, which was sponsored by the Leader of the Assembly, Mr Ikechukwu Ezeugwu, would help to prevent crime and maintain public security in the state.

Ezeugwu said that passage of the bill followed holistic and thorough consideration of report submitted by the joint committees on Youth, Sport and Security Matters and Finance and Appropriation at the plenary.

He said the bill also seeks to promote the efficiency of security agencies as well as reserve part of the fund for training and retraining of security personnel in the state.

The lawmaker said the bill would establish a board of trustees to manage the security fund to be headed by a chairman, who should not be less than 45 years of age and must be appointed by the state governor.

In his remarks after the passage of the bill, the Speaker of the Assembly, Chief Edward Ubosi, commended the joint committee for the comprehensive report, which he said assisted in the passage of the bill.

Ubosi said the bill, when asserted by Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, would go a long way in cushioning any form of insecurity in the state, as it created a special security trust fund to cater for all security and other related expenditure.

On a related development, the Assembly also accepted a petition presented by Paul Nnajiofor on behalf of Concerned Electricity Consumers in Nkanu-East Constituency on withdrawal and removal of old pre-paid metres by the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC).

Nnajiofor hinted that the meters were withdrawn by the company without prior information to the owners, and had posed more hardship on them due to high estimation billing system.

The Assembly then set up an ad-hoc committee headed by Deputy Speaker, Mr Uche Ugwu to look into the activities of the EEDC in the state in line with the petition and report back to House in a week’s time.