Residents of Anambra state have been urged to support government initiative on unified and comprehensive house numbering as part of measures to achieve Governor Obiano’s vision on smart state.

Speaking to Journalists in Awka, the Managing Director of Anambra State Signage and Advisement Agency ANSAA, Chief Jude Emecheta said the exercise would commence with urban and semi- urban areas and will be extend to all parts of the state.

Paul Ezeoke reports that according to Chief Emecheta, Anambra as one of the fastest developing states in Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa needs modern facilities and innovations to keep pace with trend and modern technology.

He explained that the new house numbering system would enhance rapid response to emergencies including fire disaster and armed robbery as it would include uploading data of each building that would enable security and other agencies have full information about buildings and environment they are responding to.

The ANSAA Managing Director said that unified and Comprehensive house numbering would enable people locate their destinations easily with their phones and tourists visiting the state from any part of the world could also use their phones to locate tourist centres and other places of interest without seeking assistance.

Chief Emecheta stated that the house numbering would capture vacant plots and hand over their numbers to physical planning agencies to keep and assign to the plot owners when the sites have been developed.
Meanwhile, people of the state have been urged to support the state government to maintain the state crime free status by remaining security conscious always.

Speaking in Awka, the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Security, Mr. Ostar Christopher, stressed the need for prompt and useful information to security agencies to enable them respond promptly to emergencies.

Mr. Christopher enjoined landlords and business owners to mount security lights at their premises to discourage criminal activities and restated the need for residents to uphold COVID-19 safety protocols.