Insecurity: Edo To Issue ID Cards To Residents

THE Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has said that his administration is concluding plans to commence the issuance of identification cards to residents across the 18 Local Government Areas of the state as a part of measures to check insecurity.
According to Crusoe Osagie, the Special Adviser on Media Projects to Obaseki, the governor disclosed this while addressing stakeholders at a security meeting held in Auchi, Etsako West LGA of the state.
Obaseki said, “We are launching the Edo State Resident Identification System. Every resident in Edo must have an identity card. The identity card will be linked to the Biometric Verification Number so that we know who is who.
“With this, if anything happens, we can follow up. We are not saying that we will not accept visitors. We are not saying that we are going to send people away, but if you must live with us, we must know you.
“We must have the addresses of all the markets in our local government areas. The idea of markets just erupting in people’s houses and without them being registered must stop. All such markets must be closed. The laws specified how markets can be set up.
“If there is a fire incident tomorrow, we can’t even get there. People will be shouting that we have lost our goods, and because we didn’t register that place as a market, we are unable to provide the facilities like water and all the things you need for people to trade there.”
Obaseki continued, “These markets never seem to close. Are markets not supposed to close? Don’t they have a closing and opening time? But these markets never close. People live there. Investigations carried out by security personnel show that all sorts of things happen there when these markets are supposed to have closed.”
“We will have to close down all unregistered markets. If you want a place as a market, the local government council must do the needful and also provide them with relevant facilities for a proper market,” the governor noted.