Ho, Sept. 16, GNA - Alhaji Abukari Sumani, Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Defence, Interior and National Security, has reiterated the need to build the security services as the country prepares to start producing oil next year. "As a country, we are not taking our security seriously but as we are about to produce oil we have to invest more in the sector and not just wait for the oil money," he said.

Alhaji Sumani said this when members of the committee called on Mr Joseph Amenowode, Volta Regional Minister, as part of a working visit to the region to familiarise itself with the work and challenges of security services in the region. He suggested that in view of the nation's oil find, government should increase the number of security personnel and provide them with adequate logistics.

Alhaji Sumani said the state of the security services was not the best and that the country needed to invest more in the sector to ensure peace and socio-economic development. Mr Amenowode described the Volta Region as peaceful except for few cases of land and chieftaincy disputes and isolated reports of armed robberies.

He said the major challenges facing the security services in the region were inadequate office, residential accommodation and inadequate logistics and urged the Committee to help resolve them. Colonel Cyril Necku (Rtd), Deputy Volta Regional Minister, said there was the need to establish sub-units of security services at strategic parts of the region to speed up deployment of security personnel to where they would be needed.

He said these sub-units would enhance "command and control" in the services in view of the length of the region and its bad roads. Mr David Ampaah Bennin, Volta Regional Police Commander, said security personnel were working under stress with inadequate logistics but expressed the hope that logistics and conditions of service would be improved to boost morale of personnel.

Members of the Committee visited offices of the Immigration Service, Police Service, Fire Service, 66 Artillery Regiment and the Ho Central Prisons among others.