by crossriverwatch admin
Plans are on the way for all hotels in Cross River State to mount Close Circuit Television, CCTV to monitor the activities of people especially during the Calabar festival which attracts an influx of people from different parts of the world.
This plan was disclosed during a meeting organized by the Cross River State Government through the office of the State Security Adviser with heads of security agencies in the state and managers and proprietors of hotels.
Speaking at the meeting, the State Security Adviser, Mr. Rekpene Bassey said that security agencies in the state cannot alone bring the needed crime free environment, noting that it was the responsibility of everybody to be involved in security.
Bassey said that every other state in the country were looking onto Cross River state government on how tourism which had remained the main economic mainstay of the state was organized and how security operatives meet up with the needed challenges.
He said that the conference was important as the state is hosting the world through the Calabar carnival and there was the need for collaboration and carefulness, stressing that security in the hotels should start right from the gate or entrance of the hotels to monitor movements of people coming to lodge in the hotels.
He said that proactive ways of policing the people that will be coming to the state will be very important and that the tourism sub-sector of the state should not be sabotaged.
He also the hoteliers not to develop apathy in sharing information and not to think that any information given to the police would be used against the informant, assuring that information shared would be treated with confidentiality.
A crossriverwatch reporter at the meeting reports that, the State Commissioner for Police Mr. Osita Ezechukwu who also spoke at the event emphasized that security was every body’s business and advised all hands to be on deck to ensure that the state continue to maintain its enviable position as the most peaceful state in the country.
Ezechukwu said that those in the hospitality industry should be actively involved on the issue of security and policing. He noted that the police alone with its many challenges and constraints cannot do it alone and advised the hospitality industry to ensure that the forthcoming Carnival Calabar ends successfully.
Also speaking, a representative of the State Security Service, SSS said that Calabar will be playing host to visitors of different calibre and cannot afford to joke with issues of security and also advised those in the hospitality industry to monitor movement of vehicles in their hotels.
Most of the participants at the meeting disclosed that their hotels had in a bid to strengthen security, mounted CCTV while others that had not done so were encouraged to mount such for effective security.