Nwachukwu, Lagos CP, others call for use of technology to fight crime at NAOSNP security conference
Ayodele Olalere
Heads of security agencies in Nigeria, on Wednesday , September 21, 2022, canvassed for the use of technology to solve the issue of insecurity in the country.
They spoke at the National Security Conference and Awards ceremony organised by the National Association of Online Security News Publishers, NAOSNP, with the theme ‘ Crime Prevention and Intelligence Gathering: Institutionalising Citizen Participation, Technology and Way Forward’ held at the Civic Center, Lekki.
Among those were Rtd. General Ike Nwachukwu, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Alabi Abiodun, the Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, Sector Commandant, Segun Ogungbemide, the Assistant Inspector General of Police, AIG Zone 2, Adeleke Bode, former General Manager, Lagos State Transport Management Authority, LASTMA, Babajide Oduyoye, among other security experts.
Rtd. Nwachukwu said it is the responsibility of all Nigerians to support security agencies. Nigerian policemen and soldiers are doing well on UN duties but back home, we don’t give them the support they need and respect they deserve. This is the reason if you try to undermine them, they use the authority they have to enforce the law. Therefore we need cooperation between our law enforcement agencies and the society. If we support them, our country will be better secured, ” he said.
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” We need to have our people supporting security agencies
In his contributions, the F and RSC boss said insecurity can only be tackled through intelligence gathering, adding security personnel can not do it alone.
“We need the input of the citizens. No security agency can do it alone without the support of the citizens. There must be an interface between the members of the society and the security agencies,” he said.
He added that the agency, through the use of technology, recovered 480 stolen vehicles in 2020.
Reacting to the issue of bribes by the police, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Alabi urged Nigerians to stop offering bribes to the police. He further said both the giver and taker of bribe is liable adding that Nigerians should also obey the law rather than bribing the police in attempts to escape punishment.
“People keep accusing policemen of taking bribes but we should also blame the people also for offering bribes. Collecting bribes is a criminal offence but people are willing to give bribes to escape punishment. Stop giving police bribes because the giver and taker are liable. Most Nigerians are lawless, they break the law and want to bribe their way out. We should stop buying our freedom with bribes,” he said.
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The AIG Zone 2, Adeleke Bode, urged the rich to stop oppressing the poor and called for responsible attitudes from the public and the police
Rtd. AIG Hakeem Odumosu said the issue of insecurity can not be solved without the use of technology, adding technology is what the country needs now to solve its problem of insecurity.
The former LASTMA General Manager, Babajide Oduyoye, said ‘without the police, we can not have a nation’ and urged Nigerians to always protect the police whenever the situation calls for it.
The President, NAOSNP, Samson Oki , in his remarks said the conference was organised to address the enormous challenges of crime prevention and intelligence gathering which various security agencies are faced with., as well as to charge and encourage Nigerians on the need to participate in the task of ensuring territorial integrity and the maintenance of peace and order for the country.
“It is only in the atmosphere of security that prosperity can be engendered. If Nigeria is not safe, we cannot all succeed in our various endeavours, whether media, business, ICT, arts, sports, culture, among others,’ he said.
