Security stakeholders meet in Ibadan over insecurity

From Stella Obi, Ibadan

Participants at a one-day stakeholders meeting on restoration of enduring peace in Ibadan and other hotspots in Oyo State have called for the recovery of weapons from hoodlums in the state.

This was part of resolutions reached at the meeting which was organised by the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Oyo State Directorate, on Saturday.

Participants included

 Mogajis, who are the traditional heads of compounds in Ibadan, representatives of security agencies and humanitarian organisations.

In the past few weeks, there have been series of violence in some parts of Ibadan.

While some of the violence has been attributed to clashes between rival groups, another factor responsible for violence was the disruption of construction projects by land grabbers also known as omo onile, which has always ended in reprisal attacks.

At the stakeholders meeting, participants took turns to share views on curtailing the development.

They described as unfortunate, the situation where hoodlums freely made use of weapons during clashes, noting that such needed to be curbed before going out of control.

The stakeholders pointed out that proliferation of weapons should equally be checked.

Other resolutions reached included the need to review existing laws on crimes which were outdated, as well as enacting a law to eradicate activities of land grabbers, also known as omo onile in the state.

One of the participants, who is also the head of one of the humanitarian agencies at the meeting, Mr Felix Odusanya, called on government to provide job opportunities for the teeming unemployed youths and appealed to members of the public to always give maximum support to security agencies in curbing crime.

In a message to the stakeholders meeting, the Olubadan of Ibadan, Oba Soliu Asetunji had decried the non implementation of various resolutions of previous meetings on security matters aimed at promoting peace in the society.

Speaking through the Ekefa Olubadan, Oloye Lekan Alabi, Oba Adetunji called on the National Orientation Agency not to allow the resolutions of the peace meeting go down the drains.

Also speaking, Oyo State Director of National Orientation Agency, Mr Moshood Olaleye, assured residents of the state that resolutions at the stakeholders meeting would be channelled to appropriate quarters for full implementation.

Mr Olaleye added that NOA would continue to partner relevant stakeholders on other steps at ensuring a peaceful society.