The Lagos State House of Assembly has once again called for the creation of state police in the country.
This call was made in reaction to the kidnapping of three children in Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary, Agunfoye Lugbusi, Ikorodu on Monday.
Raising the issue under matters of urgent public importance during plenary on Thursday, the Majority Leader of the House, Hon. Sanai Agunbiade called on the Lagos State Government to beef up security in the state and condemned the kidnapping in strong terms.
He added further that the state government should beef up security in Ikorodu Area, educate owners of private schools on how to secure their hostels, and create state police, while sympathising with the parents of the kidnapped children.
The Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa stated that those in-charge of the nation’s security are inadequate, and that security was poor in the state, while he called for the creation of state police by the Federal Government.
“We learned that policemen got to the school, where the incident happened late. The Federal Government should allow state police to reduce such incidents.
“Private schools should also tighten-up security in their schools. We learnt that the wall of the school was broken by the hoodlums through which they gained entrance into the school. Also, CCTV cameras should be installed in the schools to monitor criminals,” he said.
In her contribution, Hon. Omotayo Oduntan expressed concern over the frequency of such events in Ikorodu Area of the state and urged the state Governor to intensify security in the area. She also said that school children should know how to alert security men through 112 or 767 anytime they notice the movement of criminals around their school premises.
Hon. Lanre Ogunyemi, who also spoke on the issue, said that it was surprising that one of the kidnappers was said to be a bricklayer employed for some jobs in the school.
“The insiders must have been behind the incident. The hoodlums came from far area, we would like the state government and law enforcement agents to rescue the children,” he said.
This was also supported by Hon. Tobun Abiodun and Hon. Rotimi Olowo amongst other lawmakers, who were at the plenary.
It will be recalled that gunmen on Monday night around 9.00p.m. struck at a hostel of Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary, Agunfoye Lugbusi, Ikorodu, kidnapping three girls in the process.
The gunmen, numbering over 10, were suspected to be pipeline vandals. They had arrived the school in a van, broke the fence to gain entrance before whisking the girls away.
