Security Boost: FCT Witnesses Sharp Decline in Kidnapping, Violent Crimes
CHIGOZIE AMADI
The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has witnessed a significant decline in kidnapping and violent crimes in 2024, compared to the previous year.
According to the Security Department of the FCT Administration, there have been months without a single kidnapping incident in 2024, a notable improvement from 2023 when kidnapping and banditry were at their peak.
Traditionally, we used to generate a monthly intelligence report, process them, and transmit to the Office of the National Security Advisor for other action. This year, we have done it differently by bringing our statistical information about crime and criminality, the level of success our security agencies achieve in terms of boasting of crime, armed recovery, and other activities of security personnel. So all those put together are something that we have not been doing in the past”
Director of the Department, Adamu Gwary, attributed this success to the commitment of the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, to rid the territory of crimes.
“More of such, all of you are living witness what the Honorable Minister is doing in terms of provision of security and enhancing the provision of security, particularly at the rural area. So, for now, I can assess that based on the effort in place, the department has done well in terms of ensuring that the security agencies are adequately supported where they need such support, particularly at the rural area.
“In terms of the performance of the department, as the proverbial saying, when a lizard falls from the top of a tree, even if nobody will clap for him, he will clap for himself. Looking at the outgoing year in retrospect, there are a lot of changes that the department does in terms of executing our assigned responsibilities.”
The administration has implemented various measures to support security agencies, particularly in rural areas.
Some notable initiatives ,he said, include:onthly Statistical Data on Crime;the FCTA has introduced monthly statistical data on crime in the FCT, which is forwarded to the office of the Security Adviser for further action and crackdown on criminals.
Also, the administration has profiled Vigilantes groups in the territory to ensure that persons with questionable characters don’t gain access to communities.
“I remembered that since sometime in February, the minister said that vigilante groups will be profiled to ensure that those who provide some of these securities at community level are people that are known by the community members as well as the FCT and other security agencies.”
“So this is the situation, the profiling of vigilante has been done and we are still doing it because sometimes some of them will either join us or even leave the city.”
The Administration has also collated a compendium of Vigilantes groups in the FCT, which helps in verifying vigilante personnel.
“We have the compendium of all the vigilante units at the area council. And each of the units, we encourage them to have a compendium of the vigilantes operating at the world level, which will be transmitted to us. So all this in the process before the end of the year, we assure you that we will have every single vigilante operating in the federal capital territory being fully documented, even if they are doing it for their own self-help.
The Director explained that these efforts have contributed to the significant decline in kidnapping and violent crimes in the FCT.
The administration remains committed to building on these gains and ensuring the safety and security of residents in the territory.
