Osun state Governor, Mr Gboyega Oyetola has advocated for a technology-based approach in the fight against insecurity in the country.
He urged the security agencies to adopt a new thinking that will galvanise optimum results and set the country to the path of peace, unity, progress and prosperity.
Oyetola made the call on Thursday in Osogbo during the 2019 National Security Conference and Public Lecture, organized by the Police Community Relations Committee (PCRC), of the Nigeria Police Force, Osun state command.
Oyetola who spoke on the theme of the conference, “Kidnapping and Banditry: Understanding the Twin Menace”, said winning the war against kidnapping and banditry requires a deep understanding of the history of insecurity vis-a-vis the forms of crime, causes, threats, strategies for containment and eradication.
He said the security agencies must begin to appraise the successes and failures so far and weaving a workable strategy around them in a bid to stem the tide and rid the nation of the menace.
According to the Governor, kidnapping and banditry are unarguably two dreaded monsters, saying both crimes are fallouts, in the main, of real or 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 has become a national issue that must be tackled squarely without ethnic or religious inclinations.
He said the kidnapping and banditry have constituted a menace to the Nigeria’s national and corporate image, thus posing a threat to people’s personal safety and business.
Chairman, Osun State Chapter of the Police Community Relations Committee (PCRC), Comrade Amitolu Shittu said the programme was organized to reawaken the people’s consciousness to security in the country. He further appreciated the presence of the PCRC National Chairman, Alhaji Dr. Faruk Maiyama, the National Vice Chairman, Alhaji Mogaji Ibraheem Olaniyan and his entourages, the state chairmen and executives.
Shittu said theme of the conference, “Kidnapping and Banditry: Understanding the Twin Menace” was carefully chosen to address and find workable solutions to security challenges confronting the state and Nigeria as a whole.
The Guest Speaker, Mr Segun Fanu, identified lack of institutional capacity, loss of communal values, weak security system, unemployment and poverty among others as reasons for kidnapping and banditry in the country.
He recommended a collaborative effort and synergy among the security agencies and stakeholders as panacea to security challenges in the country.
Fanu, who described security as a duty of all, said the time has come for government policy on non-payment of ransom to be invoked.
He called for the adoption of proactive approach to crime fighting by the police force and increase operational funding and logistics system to the police.
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