The Federal Capital Territory Administration FCTA said there has been a dip in cases of kidnapping in 2024 as opposed to what it experienced in the preceding year.
Director of Security Department in the FCT Administration, Adamu Gwary, who attributed the feat to the commitment of the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, to rid the territory of crimes, said in 2024, the territory recorded months without a single incident of kidnapping unlike in 2023 when it was sometimes a weekly occurrence in a month.
He said; “Before now, you would notice that sometimes on a daily basis, at least weekly, you could hardly see a week pass without having a reported case of kidnapping. Now, when we check our statistics, you will notice that sometimes for a whole month you will not hear of that. This is basically due to the measures in place and the magnanimity of the Honourable Minister to support whatever we are doing in ensuring that the security agencies are effectively supported.
“You are living witnesses to what the Honourable Minister is doing in terms of provision of security and enhancing the provision of security, particularly in the rural areas. So, for now, I can assess that based on the efforts in place, the department has done well in terms of ensuring that the security agencies are adequately supported where they need such support, particularly in the rural areas.
“In terms of the performance of the department, as the proverbial saying, when a lizard falls from the top of a tree, even if nobody will clap for him, he will clap for himself. Looking at the outgoing year in retrospect, there are a lot of changes that the department went through in terms of executing our assigned responsibilities.”
Gwary also disclosed that the FCTA has introduced monthly statistical data on crime in the FCT, which is forwarded to the office of the Security Adviser for further action and crackdown on criminals.
In his words, “Traditionally, we used to generate a monthly intelligence report, process them, and transmit to the Office of the National Security Adviser for other action. This year, we have done it differently by bringing our statistical information about crime and criminality, the level of success our security agencies achieved. So, all those put together are something that we have not been doing in the past.
“But this time around, we generate such things to ensure that at least it helps the administration in terms of assessing the performance of our security agencies for planning purposes. For instance, when we look at our statistical information to look at what are the crimes that are most prevalent, where the administration will channel its energy towards addressing them. And those are one of the areas at where such statistics have helped the administration in terms of fighting of crimes.
“I remember that sometime in February, the minister said that vigilance groups will be profiled to ensure that those who provide security at community level are people who are known to the community members as well as the FCT and other security agencies.
“We equally established a portal with which the department will be communicating with the heads of security, I mean, vigilance groups in each of the Area Council. And by doing so, we will know who are the organized Vigilance groups, who and who are not, so that we will see in as much as we are very much aware that this is a self-help project, this is a self-help effort, but it will not just be left for members of the public to just key into it without being addressed in terms of ensuring that the right people are doing the right thing. So the administration is doing everything possible to ensure that the Vigilance groups we are using are known to us.
“We have the compendium of all the Vigilance units in the Area Councils and each of the units, we encourage them to have a compendium of the vigilance teams operating at the ward level, which will be transmitted to us.
“So this is the situation, the profiling of vigilance groups has been done and we are still doing it”, he added.
Vanguard
