The Nigeria Police initiative to discourage cultism and other vices via campaigns and other philosophical means has received approbations of lawmakers in Ogun State who are now demanding that the effort be stepped up.
The House of Assembly wanted the ‘Stop Crime Team Nigeria’, an umbrella of the ‘Police Campaign Against Cultism and other Vices (POCACON)’ initiated by the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to extend its advocacy activities to different Groups and Government Agencies including Schools.
Ogun State House of Assembly believed that this initiative could effectively tackle the menace of cultism and other criminal activities involving teenagers and youth in general.
The Speaker, Rt. Hon. Oludaisi Elemide, gave the charge while playing host to POCACON team led by the National Coordinator and an Assistant Commissioner of Police, Olabisi Okuwobi, during an advocacy visit to the State lawmakers at the Assembly Complex, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta.
Hon. Elemide commended the team for adopting alternative means of discouraging the youth from engaging in cultism and other crimes, saying that the task would require the support of all and sundry.
In their remarks, Honourable Damilare Bello, Babatunde Tella, Yusuf Amosun, Folawewo Salami and Omolola Bakare, identified failure on the part of parents and peer influence from schools as parts of causes of social vices among youth.
They disclosed that the menace had become rampant even within the primary school level as well as the informal sector of the economy as motorcycle riders, butchers, commercial drivers and artisans now belonged to different violent cult groups constituting nuisance within the society.
They applauded the Inspector General of Police for the initiative in tackling the menace via advocacy campaign rather than the use of force.
Earlier in her presentation, National Coordinator of POCACON, ACP Okuwobi stated that the police force had discovered that most criminals arrested always had their roots in one cult group or the other, stressing the need for community engagements through advocacy.
She noted that the process would go through renunciation, disarmaments and rehabilitation to reduce cultist activities and other criminalities in the State.
Meanwhile, the Speaker also led his co-lawmakers to play host to the Executive Members of the State Chapter of the Christians Association of Nigeria (CAN) led by Rt. Rev’d. Emmanuel Adekunle, where more areas of collaboration were discussed; especially on the need to further assist the faithful in all parts of the State through networking, welfarism and other empowerment programmes.
