Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, has charged the State Directors of Security (SDS), to be more proactive in finding the root cause of cultism in the region.

Governor Abiodun, who made this known during the fourth Quarter of SDS Conference, South West Zone in Abeokuta, lamented that cultism had lately become prevalent, wondering how primary school children, vulcanizers, welders, artisans and the educated got involved in cultism.

"In the last few weeks, some of the things that we have experienced in Ogun State which I am not sure you have experienced in your various states is the issue of cultism”.

"Why are they killing each other? Is there something they are earning, some kind of reward? What is the incentive? I think these are posers and questions for you to look into”.

"We cannot be focused on the symptom; let's try and drill down to find out what exactly is the root cause. So perhaps if we do that, we can nib it in the bud; then we can begin to see a reduction in these incidences of strikes every now and then, for cases of cultism to begin to subside", he said.

The state’s helmsman noted that the Conference would provide the State Directors of Security, an opportunity to cross-fertilise ideas, in order to strengthen and improve the security architecture of the South-Western states.

Abiodun added that the introduction of community policing, code-named, ‘Amotekun'’, was a reaction to the gap in community policing that needed to be addressed.

"We felt there was a gap in community policing and we needed to have some sort of arrangement that will allow us to further deepen security in the South-West region, based on our peculiarities", he said.

The Governor expressed belief that with inter-state cooperation, shared intelligence, understanding, inter-state cooperation and law enforcement, security could be further strengthened across border lines, stressing that there would be no meaningful socio-economic development in the atmosphere of insecurity.

He disclosed that laying off about 5,000 kilometers of fibre optic cables across the length and breadth of the state by his administration, would allow the state have cameras, predict travel time, react to emergencies and distress situations, saying both Ogun and Lagos were collaborating to light up the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, just as they were planning to mount close-circuit cameras on the road.

"I think that what happened to us about a few weeks ago was a wakeup call, where our Director of Finance went to the bank in broad daylight on his way back, he was murdered. We are deeply saddened by it, but it was a wake-up call that we need to be proactive’’, he said.

Earlier, Ogun State Director of Security, Folashade Adekaiyaoja, explained that the Conference was a quarterly meeting to ensure stronger synergy in the discharge of their duties, assuring the region of their renewed vigour in finding lasting solution to insecurity.

Ekiti State Director of Security, who doubles as Chairman of the Conference, promised to do justice to the topic and come up with solutions.