AKINWALE ABOLUWADE
The Nigerian Baptist Convention has added its voice to the call by Nigerians that the Federal Government should approve the creation of State Police in a bid to address insecurity and terrorism in the country.
The NBC also urged the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency on the education sector with a view to restoring normalcy and reducing the figure of out-of-school-children as well as the sundry crises beseting the nation’s tertiary institutions.
The President of the NBC, Rev. Dr. Israel Akanji, made the appeal on Friday while addressing the press at its ongoing 111th annual session at the Baptist International Convention Centre, Kilometre 54, Lagos-Ibadan Express Way, Lufuwape Village in Ogun State.
The week-long convention, hosted by the Edo Baptist Conference, is theme, ‘Entering into newness through discipleship and apostleship,’ taken from the Book of Mark 3:14 and 15.
The NBC, noting that during the just concluded Sallah celebrations, a footage was shown of terrorists celebrating in some communities in Zamfara and Borno States, lamented that “This was a slap on the face of our security agencies.”
It added, “More actions are needed to put these criminals where they rightly belong. More personnel should be recruited to fill the vacuum in all our security agencies.”
The Nigerian Baptist Convention endorsed the quest for State Police, saying that it would complement the efforts of the Nigeria Police Force and as well, serve the country good.
It stated, “It is a global practice of security architecture. Also, the Federal Government should set up a Special Court where terrorist cases will be prosecuted according to the law of the land. Developed nations like the USA, the UK, Germany and France should stop paying lip-service to their support for the country in our efforts to stop the menace of terrorism.”
It called on the three tiers of government to declare a state of emergency in the education sector, as well as deploy the Civil Defence Corps to curb the security threat in the nation’s public schools.
“This will help us to reduce the percentage of children who are out of schools in the country and address all the crises rocking our tertiary institutions, which always lead to their closure at the expense of our youths.
“Our tertiary institutions should overhaul their curriculum with a view to producing graduates who are not only employable but who can become self-employed. We also call on the leadership of the Civil Defence Corps to rise to the security threat on our public schools in order to stop the incessant abduction of our children.”
On the alarming rate of emigration to overseas countries in search of greener pastures, tagged as ‘the Japa Syndrome’ culminating in brain drain across sectors, the NBC thanked President Bola Tinubu for his good plans and actions against the mass unemployment in the country.
The Christian body said, “In the bid to secure their livelihood, many Nigerian youths risk their lives to cross the Mediterranean Sea in order to get to Europe.
“So many of them have lost their lives while doing so and many others are languishing in cells in the most degrading conditions of life in countries with borders with Europe.
“The educated and highly skilled ones who are able to make it across the country through genuine means have continued to bring a decrease to our possible excellent workforce as a country.
“Consequently, Nigerians are all over the world, developing other countries while their own remains stunted, to put it mildly. Continuous actions of Government must be seen to be drastically reducing these trends.”
