Residents of Ido-Ekiti in Ido Osi Local Government Area have urged the Ekiti State Government to adequately empower security agencies in the state for them to fight criminal challenges in 2022.
In separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ido -Ekiti, some of the residents identified poor logistics, armoury, competent personnel, and inadequate training as some of the challenges of security agencies in Ekiti.
They lamented that the high level of insecurity being witnessed by indigenes and residents of the state was becoming unbearable for them.
Mrs Foluke Fagbemi, a trader, said that she had become scared to travel within and outside the state because of increasing cases of attacks by gunmen and kidnapping.
Fagbemi advised the state government to give priority to the major needs of the security agencies to enable the officers carry out their duties effectively.
“Currently, the state of insecurity in Ekiti is not good. I and my family are really finding it difficult to travel from one community to the other.
“It has gotten to the point that if we want to buy any material from the other town, we always send dispatch riders.
“I just want to appeal to the state government to provide good vehicles, arms and ammunition, employ competent security officers, and increase salaries of our security officers to boost their efficiency,” she appealed.
Another resident, Mr Kayode Fayemi, a retired teacher, urged the state government to consider the plight of the residents of the communities and to upgrade the security network in Ekiti.
Fayemi observed that most police stations in the various communities lacked good vehicles or motorcycles for surveillance.
He appealed to Gov. Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State to provide adequate funds for the procurement of vehicles and ammunition for all the security agencies in the state.
Also, Mr Jacob Ogundipe, a vulcanizer, said that many of the people who commit crimes were living within the communities, “but the security agencies are unable to arrest them because of their limitations’’.
Ogundipe said that in many cases whenever there were distress calls to the police, they got to the scene of the crime very late.
He urged the state government to empower the security agencies adequately next year to curb kidnapping, assassinations and armed robberies in Ekiti.
Similarly, Mrs Bisola Ajayi, a tailor, said that the activities of kidnappers in the area had become worrisome, as nobody was safe to travel in the evening, or early in the morning without being afraid of kidnapped.
Ajayi appealed to the state government to find a lasting solution to kidnapping and other crimes in the state.
She advised the governor to provide adequate and good vehicles, employ more security officers and establish more security stations in volatile areas and communities.
“As it stands, I want to advise Gov. Fayemi to provide more good vehicles for all the security agencies in Ekiti.
“Secondly, I want to appeal to him to employ more security officers because the numbers of security officers are inadequate to curb crime in the state
“Thirdly, the state government should establish security stations in the areas and communities that are prone to crime,” she said. (NAN)