Posted by By Henry Chukwurah, Port Harcourt on
The other five state governors in the Niger Delta region may have to take a ride to Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, for tutorials on how to either stem or prevent hostage-taking in their domain.
•His recipe on how to stop hostage taking
The other five state governors in the Niger Delta region may have to take a ride to Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, for tutorials on how to either stem or prevent hostage-taking in their domain.
This is because Governor Timipre Sylva seems to have found a cure to the social malaise that has plagued the zone.
Already, the "medication," called "4E" formula, is figuratively on sale and luckily, willing governors can buy without money. The going ‘price' for the ‘drug' is only a trip by interested state chief executives to Yenagoa.
Better still, they can invite Gov. Sylva to their states for the lectures and possibly hand-outs.
Hints of the Bayelsa State governor's novel discovery came recently when he visited his Rivers State counterpart, Sir. Celestine Omehia, to hand over two Indians abducted from Port-Harcourt and found in Bayelsa State.
Gov. Sylva told his host that his administration has adopted the ‘4E' approach in checking hostage-taking in his state. The Four Es are Engagement, Education, Empowerment and Enforcement.
Perhaps, still guarding his patent rights jealously, the governor was silent on the application of the formula.
However, he told Gov. Omehia that the formula was already yielding encouraging results as he has succeeded in getting both self-confessed and identified hostage-takers to denounce the act.
Governor Sylva expressed optimism that given the resolve of the governors of Niger Delta States to jointly tackle the problem, the incident of hostage-taking would soon be a thing of the past.
Expectedly, Governor Sylva won the heart of his host who particularly commended him for ensuring the release of the hostages, who were abducted in May from their official residence in Port Harcourt .
Governor Omehia, who shared in his guest's optimism of an imminent end to the menace, said his administration was also tinkering with how to shore up security for those who live and do business in Rivers State.