National Assembly member, Femi Bamisile, has queried why technology is failing to locate kidnappers and bandits at their operation points and hideouts in the country.
Bamisile said that it was unfortunate that kidnappings and other banditry attacks were taking place despite financial allocations for defence, security, and registration of citizens’ National Identification Numbers with sim cards.
The House of Representatives member, who spoke in a chat with journalists in Ado Ekiti on Tuesday, bemoaned the killing of two traditional rulers and the kidnap of five school pupils, three female teachers, and a driver on the same day in the state last week.
He said, “It is quite unfortunate that we have found ourselves in this situation, Ekiti has been a very peaceful state, we have not had such a devastating and dastardly act that took the lives of two of our monarchs and on the same day kidnap of five young pupils, three teachers, and a driver.
“From the information that we have gathered after the release, we learned that the driver was killed in front of those young kids and women, this categorically says to us that we are living in the end times. This again shows the inhuman feelings of those who perpetrated the acts. I am certain that they will be fished out and dealt with accordingly.
“Every year, we give out billions to the Ministry of Defence. This is becoming rather unacceptable to Nigerians that day in and day out, in the nooks and crannies of this country, people are still being kidnapped.
“They told us to register our phones with NIN, and what this does is to be able to track the phones at any point in time, I still wonder why our technology has not been able to track these bandits wherever they are operating from”.
Bamisile, who condemned negotiations with kidnappers and terrorists and payment of ransom to them for abductees’ release, said, “I strongly believe that we should not imbibe in the spirit of giving money to trade for humans when they are being billed.
“We should develop ourselves security-wise, the intelligence in the country should be improved upon to be able to get to the root of these crises, whoever these hoodlums are”.
The National Assembly member also called on governments to assist teeming youths who graduate from school with jobs and stipends “that can help graduates to start business if they know what they are doing.
“This is because you find out that not all these people (criminals) are Boko Haram or herders from the northern part, there are Yoruba people among them. You find out that they are graduates. They say what leads them to this is unemployment”, Bamisile said.
