Senate urges Police to intensify surveillance across the country

The Senate on Tuesday, called on Police authorities to intensify surveillance across the country to check renewed activities of kidnappers.

It also urged the Federal Government to direct the Inspector-General of Police to immediately make available sufficient helicopter for aerial patrol, and gunboats to Marine Police Department of Lagos Command.

This followed a motion by Sen. Gbenga Ashafa (APC-Lagos) on “the need for the Nigerian Police and other security agencies to intervene in the increased rate of kidnapping in Lagos East Senatorial District and secure the waterways.”

According to Ashafa, the activities of the criminals have forced law-abiding residents of coastal communities to flee the communities and their livelihoods out of fear.

He said that the situation had deteriorated so much that prominent citizens had to vacate the communities due to high level of insecurity in the district.

The lawmaker said that the activities of criminal syndicates had caused hardship to people in the area, and called for urgent intervention of the Federal Government.

Seconding the motion, Sen. Joshua Lidani (PDP-Gombe) said that recently, there had been upsurge in the activities of militants and kidnappers across the country.

“This upsurge is not restricted to Lagos. There has been an upsurge of criminal activities even in the Federal Capital Territory,” he said.

Lidani called on security agencies to be more vigilant, adding that the citizenry should also be wary of hoodlums around them and report suspected activities and persons to appropriate quarters.

“There is the need for the Department of State Service (DSS) and the Nigeria Police to rise to their responsibility to ensure that they are able to apprehend all those that engage in these criminal activities.”

He also urged the Federal Government to increase the budget of DSS and the police to enable them to combat crime effectively.

The motion was unanimously adopted when the President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, put it to a voice vote.