Friday, 29th March 2024
To guardian.ng
Search
News  

Plateau: Residents Proffer Solutions On Growing Child Theft

By  Isa Abdulsalami Ahovi (Jos)
07 August 2015   |   10:51 pm
An Igbo elder and fashion designer based in Jos, the Plateau State capital, Chief Okafor Eni attributed the incessant stealing and kidnapping of children from various strata of the society to ritual activities.

Eni-pix-8-8-15-CopyAn Igbo elder and fashion designer based in Jos, the Plateau State capital, Chief Okafor Eni attributed the incessant stealing and kidnapping of children from various strata of the society to ritual activities.

He said that instead of the inglorious act abating it is increasing at an alarming rate.

In his opinion, “This thing is owing to rituals. The people involved kidnap these children for rituals and some kidnap them for money. The hardship being constantly experienced in the society is largely responsible for the stealing of children.

“In a compound, I have seen where a relation arranged with dubious people from outside to kidnap the son of his blood brother, because the brother had money, but refused to help him. So, he believed that kidnapping the brother’s child would give him a huge amount of money to start life.

For him, “We need to look at our security system in this country. Pay the security personnel the amount of money they are supposed to receive. Education now is expensive. If you have five children in the primary school, you will budget over N100 in a term.

“On the whole, the government should take the issue of security seriously.

“Another thing is for the government to revive and restructure our security apparatus because the majority of our security personnel are corrupt.

On his part, Mr. Shedrach Mbanasor expressed concern that stealing and kidnapping of children has become a culture that must be observed frequently unlike in the past when that dastard act was regarded as a taboo or abomination.

Mbanasor urged government to train the security personnel adequately to curb the menace.

He lamented that people embark on such ignoble mission because of youth unemployment, stressing that when youths who graduated from schools have nothing to do, they engage in such condemnable act “because they say an idle mind is devil’s workshop.

A teacher and also a chaplain of Methodist High School in Jos, Rev. Igbe Okechukwu said the trend is very horrendous and should be condemned by all. He believes that when good children mix up with people of dubious characters without checks on them by parents, they are bound to be lured into evil acts.

The Cleric believed that peers are also responsible for acts of stealing and kidnapping of children. Proffering solutions to the ugly and annoying situation, he suggested to the government to return moral lessons to the school curriculum.

“Before now schools use to provide moral lessons and religious instructions and knowledge to the children. But these have been removed from the school curriculum. What do you want school children to do when they are not morally taught the value of life.

“So, students don’t have any other option but to follow the bad eggs in to learn the act of stealing and kidnapping innocent children.

0 Comments