In recent times, kidnapping and the demand for ransom over the abducted has become the biggest threat to the safety and security of people in our society.
In addition to being rampant, the practice has become a multi-billion naira business for some criminally-minded Nigerians, who would stop at nothing to get rich.
It is disturbing that the criminal elements have descended so low to The Point of kidnapping school children for ransom, as evidenced in the recent attack on the Nigerian Turkish (Tulip) International Colleges, Ogun State.
That ugly incident has since exposed the extent to which Nigerian school children, especially those in private schools, are vulnerable to the whims and caprices of these individuals, whose stock in trade is to get rich by any means possible.
That the kidnap could be planned and carried out with precision, and the victims, five students and three teachers, made to undergo excruciating hardship and emotional trauma, in the hands of their abductors, made nonsense of the billions of naira annually spent on the police and other security agencies by both the Federal and state governments.
It was a clear indication that the police have not lived up to expectation as regards securing the safety of citizens and only act, though in swift reaction, when there is an immediate crisis.
The matter becomes more worrisome, given that Lagos State had barely recovered from a similar attack on Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary School, in Ikorodu area of the state, when the Turkish school was attacked.
The attack on Barbington had been carried out at a time the Zone 2 Command of the Nigeria Police Force, which comprises of Ogun and Lagos states, had just appraised its success stories in crime fighting and even planned to upgrade some of its facilities already considered obsolete.
That the kidnap itself could occur at that point in time jolted authorities, who almost immediately canvassed for useful information that could lead to a possible arrest of the abductors and the liberation of the abductees.
Perhaps, the latest kidnap of school children might have prompted police authorities to advocate for the setting up of a standing unit to focus on prevention of violent crimes, such as kidnapping for ransom in the country.
Assistant Inspector-General of Police in charge of the zone, Mr. Kayode Aderanti, has also expressed “hopes to reduce the number of violent crimes, especially as they concern private schools by canvassing for the Violent Crime Reduction Team.”
Crime analysts have also said that if the envisaged arrangement finally passes through administrative trajectory, the unit’s job would not be to wait to be called when such crimes take place, but to proactively go into the private schools that are fast becoming hot spots for criminal activities, and focus on strangers that have lately formed the bulk of the key violent offenders.
It is our opinion that the envisaged presence of armed police officers in private schools should be made permanent, rather than a temporary measure, and should mostly involve uniformed officers for stake outs as well.
This may appear absurd but unusual times call for unusual actions. We expect the police to be proactive, henceforth, instead of being reactive; though, more often than not, they move in swiftly in particular cases, while conducting thorough investigations that usually lead to the arrest of the “bad boys.”
The police must also begin to develop proactive footprints on criminal gangs, such as kidnappers. That it took 11 days for the victims of the NTIC kidnap to regain freedom, after an alleged payment of ransom, was not only an embarrassment to the police but also a misnomer.
The police must begin to develop proactive footprints on criminal gangs. That ittook 11 days for the victims of the NTIC kidnap to regain freedom, after an alleged payment of ransom, was not only an embarrassment to the police but also a misnomer
While we understand that the police is understaffed, and that uniformed officers cannot be deployed to all private schools in the country, we believe that parameters could be set and collaborative efforts put in place by the police and private school proprietors on the provision of adequate security in the schools to forestall a repeat of such ugly incidents.
The host communities of private schools must also play their roles of being their brothers’ keepers by getting involved in the security of the schools in their domains. Security is everybody’s business.
It is indeed high time we devised a module capable of nipping crimes in private and public schools in the bud to avoid the national embarrassment the kidnap of school children brings to our nation.
This would also help prevent the innocent children from the attendant emotional and psychological trauma they are made to go through in the hands of their abductors.
The citizenry must, as a part of their civic responsibility, resolve to be part of the crime fighting efforts as well. Crime fighting is a partnership between the government, security forces and citizens.
