Residents and youths of Enugu State on Friday marched through popular streets in the state capital in support of the government’s campaign against insecurity, declaring their zero tolerance for terror, criminality and violent extremism.

The youths, including undergraduates and members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), who ultimately converged at Government House, Enugu, where they were received by the Enugu State Governor, Dr. Peter Mbah, pledged to mobilise young people across the state against criminal activities and violent extremism.

Addressing the group, Mbah said security was one of the recurring risk factors identified by his administration while mapping out the developmental building blocks for the state, hence his decision to tackle the menace head-on from the outset.

While commending the youths for taking the initiative to support the anti-crime efforts of the President Bola Tinubu Administration and the Enugu State Government, the governor said his administration’s “Tomorrow Is Here” mantra was not a mere political slogan, but a commitment to investing in young people who would take charge of the state’s future.

“For you to march through the streets and end here preaching the message against crime and terrorism is profound. Ordinarily, we should be the ones preaching to you against such vices.

“But by this act, you are telling us that you are not going to be on the fringes or stand by and watch. Rather, you are going to be at the forefront of the campaign against cultism, crime and terrorism,” the governor said.

Mbah said greater involvement of youths in the fight against criminality would lead to a significant reduction in crime, freeing up resources for job creation and poverty eradication.

He noted that some countries had shut down many of their correctional facilities after recording significant reductions in crime, stressing that a similar transformation could be achieved in Nigeria when young people took ownership of the campaign against criminality.

The governor said the state had adopted a zero-tolerance policy towards criminality, adding that a safer Enugu would attract more investors and generate other multiplier effects for the economy.

He urged the youths to take their campaign against crime and terrorism to every part of the state, saying their initiative would send a strong message that criminality was no longer fashionable among young people.

According to him, the government would complement the youths’ campaign through non-kinetic interventions, including job creation, increased investment in education and digital skills development.

“Your campaign is heartwarming. When citizens apply scholarly and constructive approaches, government will be glad to engage them constructively and productively too,” Mbah said.

Earlier, a leader of the march and Deputy Rector of the Institute of Management and Technology (IMT), Enugu, Dr Emeka Ejim, described the coalition as a broad-based youth movement comprising corps members and students united by a common agenda to campaign against crime, cultism and terrorism.

Ejim pledged the group’s support for the state government’s security efforts, saying Enugu had distinguished itself in the fight against crime and cultism through a combination of kinetic and non-kinetic measures, including skills acquisition and job creation.

“We pledge never to join bad groups within and outside Nigeria. We are joining you against terrorism,” he said.

Also speaking, the Enugu State leader of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Okeke Kelvin, said the association would mobilise no fewer than two million youths to support the campaign against violence and terror.

“This is the only way we can show you that we are against terror. We say no to terrorism,” Kelvin said.

The student leader commended the state government for investing heavily in modern security infrastructure in the state, noting the settingup of the Command and Control Centre, Centre for DNA Forensics and Criminal Investigation, Distress Response Squad DRS), and others, which he said were yielding results.

“For instance, they tried you at Affa in Udi, and in no time the kidnappers realized they cannot ply their trade in Enugu State,” he stated.

NYSC corps members Olaranju Oreose and Emmanuela Momoh expressed gratitude to Governor Mbah for the peace and security they enjoy in Enugu, saying the state had totally changed their views and allayed the fears they initially nursed when posted to the South East region.

“I am Olaranju, representing the General CDS President. Sir, as a corps member from the South West, and I have been in Enugu from January till now, I want to say that my journey and experience so far here has been wonderful in terms of security.

“Initially, I had the fear of coming this far distance to Enugu. But having been here, I have changed that thinking. I want to let you know that no one amongst us here, no matter the tribe, no matter the religion, is supporting terrorism.”