At a period of fasting, deep reflections, and quest for spiritual growth by Muslims, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Dr. Kayode Egbetokun, has charged youths to engage in good morals and shun cultism as well as other vices in order to avoid the consequences of such negative acts.
The IGP gave the charge at the first-of-its-kind Ramadan lecture organised by the Police Campaign Against Cultism and Other Vices (POCACOV) to address youth involvement in crime and curb the menace through preventive policing.
The event was held at Ejigbo Local Council Development Area in Lagos State on Tuesday, with a very large turnout of people, while the topic of the lecture was “Name, Fame, and Shame: The Consequences of One’s Actions in the Hereafter.”
IGP Egbetokun, who was represented by the Deputy Commissioner, Operations, Lagos State Police Command, Tijani Abdulfatah, said that the POCACOV initiative is to help youths in making choices the would have a lasting positive impact on their lives.
The IGP, who was happy with the large number of people who came for the lecture, expressed the belief that continuous engagement with youths, parents and guardians, schools, communities, and religious institutions would help people in living crime-free and purpose-driven lives.
POCACOV’s National Coordinator, ACP Olabisi Okuwobi, while addressing the gathering, said that POCACOV is a non-kinetic policing initiative of the Nigeria Police Force being spearheaded by the IGP.
She stated that the IGP, who believes that law enforcement alone cannot curb crimes in Nigeria, came up with preventive policing.
ACP Okuwobi made it known that POCACOV took into cognisance the respect Muslims have for the month of Ramadan, seen as a holy month, which makes those engaged in crimes and vices stop during the period.
“The theme of the programme is talking about people making informed choices on what they will do in this world and where they will land in the hereafter.
“We are just telling them that whatever actions they take in this life, either during or after Ramadan, there are consequences for them.
“So, as they say ‘no’ to criminality, as they say ‘no’ to cultism, as they say ‘no’ to drug and substance abuse during Ramadan, this ‘no’ should transcend this period. Even after Ramadan, it should be ‘no’ to criminality,” she said.
In his lecture, an Imam, Alhaji Abdulgafar Oyewole Kukoyi, a Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board official, lamented the way unsettled homes have affected the children, saying that the products of homes form what is being experienced in the society.
He also spoke on children who deviate from good teachings by parents, noting however that that the knowledge children have from home serves as the mainstay of their lives.
“The home is very important. What parents do has a lot of impact on their children,” he sermonised, urging parents to also monitor the types of friends their children move with from primary school to tertiary institutions.
He also advised them to be their children’s friends, adding that all, including the parents, the society, the government, should work together, while he admonished youths to be patient and persevering, as success comes through a gradual process.
The chairman of Ejigbo LCDA, Hon. Monsuru Bello, in his remarks, expressed gratitude to God for giving Ejigbo Community the opportunity to get fresh ideas and initiatives.
Describing the lecture and turnout of people as “very impressive,” Hon. Bello said that the gathering was a way of sensitising the youths on the consequences of engaging in vices and to advise them to shun criminality.
He prayed for the sustenance of such lectures, promising to give support whenever necessary.
He congratulated the IGP and the National Coordinator of POCACOV for the organised Ramadan lecture, while he appealed to youths, particularly in Ejigbo, to take the fresh ideas brought to them as a second chance to rebuild their lives.
ALSO READ TOP STORIES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
and then