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Clement Adeyi, Osogbo
Osun State Governor, Mr. Gboyega Oyetola, has advocated a technology-based approach in the battle against insecurity in the country.
He urged the security agencies to adopt a new thinking that would galvanise optimum results and set the country on the path of peace, unity, progress and prosperity.
The governor made the call yesterday during the 2019 national security conference and public lecture organised by the Police Community Relations Committee (PCRC) of the Osun State Police Command, in Osogbo, the state capital.
Oyetola, who spoke on the theme of the conference, “Kidnapping and Banditry: Understanding the twin menace,” said winning the war against kidnapping and banditry required a deep understanding of the history of insecurity vis-a-vis the forms of crime, causes, threats and strategies for containment and eradication.
He said the security agencies must begin to appraise the successes and failures so far and deploy a workable strategy around them in a bid to stem the tide and rid the nation of the menace.
He stressed that kidnapping and banditry were unarguably two dreaded monsters, adding that both crimes were fallouts of perceived injustice in the nation accentuated by youth unemployment and poor economy.
Oyetola, who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Prince Wole Oyebamiji, said the dire security situation in the country had become a national issue that must be tackled squarely without ethnic or religious inclinations.
He said kidnapping and banditry had constituted a menace to Nigeria’s national and corporate image, thus posing a threat to people’s personal safety and business.
The governor said: “We must understand, as a people and as government, that kidnappers and bandits are our common enemies who are waging war against us.
“Security experts contend that war is fought and won on the altar of strategy. We require a strategic and creative thinking and employment of technology to win this war.
“Security must be well-funded and security agencies must be provided with state-of-the-art arms that are superior to what the bandits use to secure all of us.
“For our intervention to be successful, we need to bridge the gap between planning and implementation. We must change our perception by seeing kidnapping and banditry as crimes and treat them as such.
“Perpetrators must be prosecuted and brought to justice. Giving any crime ethnic toga weakens the war against crime and gives more arsenals to our common enemies to continue to terrorize us.”
Oyetola called for a collaborative effort among the stakeholders, saying the dire security situation in the country required meaningful contribution of all.
