Opinion

Invest In Tecnology To Tackle Crimes, By Wole Ajewole

By Wole Ajewole

A sovereign State is one with capacity to protect its territory, ward off external aggression and maintain peaceful co-existence with prevalence of law and order. There is no doubt that the level of crime and criminally in Nigeria is very alarming. Of course, the hopelessness and haplessness of victims have created the impression that things will never get better in the country.

The large army of unemployable youths, drug addicts, out of school children with no skills, street Almajiri and.products of broken homes are now major nightmares and albatrosses for the nation to contend with. These sets of people who have suffered from one kind of denials from the society and stratified now engage in banditry, kidnapping, violence, ritual killings, and advanced fee fraud.

What is strange to me is how did we get to this lowest ebb? What could have accounted for the upsurge in criminal acts across the country ? Why has the police not been able to tame the/hydra headed monster? Answers to these are thought provoking and stars us in the face. Does it means that the Police is incompetent? No, our police are very competent and will perform wonder giving the right environment and facilities.

However, It must be stated clearly that the capacity of the police is not enough to cover the wide areas of the country and the huge population of almost 200 million people . In addition, the lack of necessary equipment and facilities are hindrances to effective performance of the police. The police must therefore carry out recruitment of more competent hands to boost their manpower. In the advanced world, the Police is populated by best Brains and sound minds. We need very intelligent and educated people in the Police hence graduates should be recruited and traine while Federal government must take very necessary steps to improve on the facilities. The police needs more vehicles, gadgets, conducive offices, adequate funding and welfare packages for the ranks and files. It is heartening that increase in wages was recently approved for the Police but other conditions of service like regular promotion and payment of hazard allowances must be addressed.

The focus of this write up is not to castigate the Police but discuss the importance of technology in crime control and the need for all stakeholders in the security architecture of the country to invest in technology to combat crimes which is growing astronomically. The world has gone digital, crime has also gone digital so crime prevention and control must also go super digital.

We must invest in the rural telephony projects to ensure that all the geographical locations of the country are covered by networks. It is absurd that telephone services are not extended to many thick forests thereby making it difficult for the Police to track many of these kidnaps and bandits who after carrying out their dastardly acts hibernate deep in the hinterland where they could not be traced.

Modern policing has gone beyond men patrolling the streets carrying AK47 as the focus now is on intelligence gathering through deployment of information and communication technology.As the society improves so Criminals also act with sophistication and dexterity. Cyber crime can only be unraveled with superior technology at the disposal of Government.

There is no crime associated with banditry, kidnapping and 419 and all forms of extortions that are not connected to the use of Global System of Mobile Communication and internet services. Ransoms are negotiated using telephone. The country seems to have abandoned the compulsory registration of SIM cards as many unregistered sim cards are now in circulation and being use to perpetuate crimes. The Federal Government must make sim card registration a vital and compulsory exercise which all mobile communication service providers must carry out to the letter. The major service providers must create a data bank which can be linked with the Federal government Data Registry. The Registry can have individual Phone number, BVN, voter’s card and National Identity Card linked together. The implementations of the issuance of the National Identity Cards must be sustained to the level that all Nigerians are captured and their data linked to the NATIONAL DATA BANK of the NATION.

Recently, the nation woke up to the news of a cartel planting incriminating drugs into the luggage of people at the airport. The case of Zainab Aliyu arrested in Saudi Arabia for trafficking hard drug into the country is still fresh in our memory. The innocent lady would have been executed as she was already sentenced and on awaiting list before the cartel that planted tramandol in her luggage were arrested through the aid of CCTV footage here in our airport. Nigerian Government must plant cameras in all strategic and important public places for surveillance. Our churches, mosques, universities and all big business centres, hotels and resorts must also plant cameras in their outfits with which human activities could be captured and be reviewed if the need arise.
We need security driven by technology to arrest the spate of heinous acts across the country. The country must fight crime to a standstill. Nigeria must be safe for us to live in.
May God bless our country.

Wole Ajewole writes from iberekodo- Ijesa, Osun State.

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