Reps to FG: Declare state of emergency on kidnapping

The House of Representatives, on Wednesday, urged the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency on the increasing waves  of kidnapping now rocking the nation.

The House also resolved that there should be a provision in the 2017 budget to purchase hi- tech equipment to fight  kidnappers to a standstill.

It urged the Federal Government to  urgently convene a security summit that would  include all security agencies, all GSM service providers, the House committees on National Intelligence, Army, Airforce, Navy,  Police and Communications to fashion an effective response to the kidnapping phenomenon.

The House resolutions followed the adoption of  a motion on matter of urgent national importance moved by Honourable Babatunde Kolawole, where he informed the House that, in the last 10 years, the incidence of kidnapping for ransom in the country had escalated to a very disturbing level.

The lawmaker equally raised the fears about  alleged connivance of security agents with kidnappers in carrying out these dastardly acts, adding that  “kidnapping in the country has reached a point where no one is safe anymore.”

He lamented that the situation had reached such a dangerous dimension, saying “school children are no longer safe following the recent kidnapping of three female students from Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary School in Ikorodu, Lagos State, and the recent kidnap of two principals and students of Lagos State Model College, Igbonla,  Épe, Lagos.”

While calling for the need to check the trend, he said “Nigeria is now seen as the kidnap capital of the world having risen from 475 reported cases in 2011, 500 in 2012 to currently over 1, 500 cases annually.”

These records, he said, no doubt affected  the tourism and investment potentials of Nigeria.

Minority Leader, Honourable Leo Ogor, also called on security agencies to live up to expectation and ensure that kidnapping was nipped in the bud.