By Omeiza Ajayi

Federal Capital Territory FCT Minister, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike on Wednesday addressed the Nigerian Senate on the state of security in the nation’s capital, Abuja, saying the Administration has been able to bring down the wave of insecurity.

Speaking after the closed session, Wike said the challenge is that some of the kidnap cases were stage-managed by individuals, working as aides to the victims.

Noting that the Senate was happy with the improving state of security in the FCT, Wike said the lawmakers had given him a lot of suggestions which he hopes to implement.

He said; “The Senators agreed that security has improved in the FCT. Let me also say that there is no part of the world where criminality has been abated. We have heard several times in the United States of America, where criminals go to school and shoot students. So people should not have that impression that you cannot have one crime or the other. What we need is being able to limit or reduce the level of insecurity.

“But if anybody tells you that as societies are concerned, you will not have one crime or the other, that is not correct and we must tell ourselves the simple truth.

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“Also, most of the kidnapping stories you hear, some of them are stage-managed by people. There are some internal arrangements. Take for example, you have a house keeper or a driver in the house who will plot to kidnap the child of his boss. In such case what do you expect us to do? What we can do is to ensure that the person that is kidnapped is released, but to stop it will be difficult because it is an in-house arrangement where a driver who is paid to go and pick his boss’ children from school will mastermind their kidnapping. So these are the things we should know.

“I am not saying there are no kidnapping cases. Mind you, two most wanted kidnappers have been arrested and that is why you see that the level of kidnapping has reduced. We are not saying we have gotten to where we want to be, but we are doing a lot and people should acknowledge that what used to be is not what we are seeing now. We will continue to do our best to ensure that we provide the best for our people. We cannot give you the assurance that there will be no form of criminality, nobody can do that, as long as we are humans”.

The minister also promised more infrastructural development in the territory.

“What is important is what the FCT should expect from now. I will say improved security, more infrastructure. You can see what is going on in the FCT. It has been turned into a construction site and you can also see what has happened in the FCTA. Now we have our own  Civil Service Commission, now we have our own Permanent Secretaries which has never been. There are new things in the FCT and the residents are happy”, he stated.

Vanguard Newspaper