By DEBORAH AKPEDE

A Lagos-based legal practitioner, Mr Daniel Adeyemi, has called for urgent measures to curb “the alarming rate of armed robbery attacks in the society”.

Adeyemi made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Tuesday.

According to him, armed robbery is the crime of using firearms or offensive weapons to take the property of another by threat or force.

“Robbers dispossessed people of their valuables, some even rape, injure, or even kill just to carry out their operations.

“No place is safe; the security situation in the country recently is so terrible as armed robbers now operate day and night on a daily basis.

“Armed robbery is becoming a trend of which if not properly handled, I fear that doom awaits our nation and the future of our youths stand on the balance of uncertainty.”

He said that the Criminal Law stipulated death sentence for armed robbery but the threat of capital punishment has not deterred robbers.

“In spite of the capital punishment reserved for convicts, the crime keeps increasing.”

He said that the prevention of crime should not lie on the shoulders of the police and government alone, but every member of the society has a role to play.

“Security of lives and property is everybody’s business; all hands must be on deck in tackling this menace so as to make the society safe for all.

“If you see something that doesn’t seem quite right, you say it, be alert and report any person with a suspicious occupation or lifestyle to the police.”

He said that the police sometimes responded slowly to robbery cases due to their inferior equipment, lack of vehicles, low morale, corruption, lack of public cooperation, among other challenges.

The legal practitioner advised Nigerians to live their lives with wisdom and desist from flaunting their wealth as that could attract robbers.

He urged parents to live up to their responsibilities by ensuring that values of integrity and hard work were imbibed in their children.

“Parents should inculcate good values in their children, train them in the right way to go; children that are properly trained will not likely involve in crime.”

Adeyemi said that more training, enhanced salary package, good equipment, recruitment and others would ensure the efficiency and boost the morale of the police.

He urged the police to properly screen people that wanted to join the force, as recruiting criminals or hoodlums would only increase the volume of rot facing the society. (NAN)

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