Abuja to get Joint Task Force against kidnapping, banditry

…Tinubu okays digital tracking devices

By Ukpono Ukpong

Plans are afoot to establish a Joint Task Force (JTF) in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to combat the rising wave of kidnapping and banditry within the territory and its environs.

The Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike made the disclosure in Abuja on Monday.

According to the Minister, the planned JTF would come with a full command and control structure as well as the necessary equipment to enable it respond to security emergencies in real time.

Wike also announced the approval of President Bola Tinubu for emergency procurement of digital tracking tools to help halt kidnappers and bandits in their tracks.

READ ALSO: UPU congratulates Oborevwori, rallies support for Gov

The Minister, who spoke at an interactive session with journalists and stakeholders, said the coming of the JTF would bridge the existing gap in policing and intelligence gathering.

Wike said, “The next thing is to set up a joint security outfit here where they have their own structure and equipment so that if anything happens the task force will know it is their function to move in.

“Yes it will cost us some funds and it will take us some time. But what is important is that we have identified that there is a lacuna that we have to cover.”

Wike said the ongoing clampdown on kidnappers and bandits has led to the arrest of a number of suspects and their informants.

He urged residents of the territory not to panic, stressing that everything was being done to protect their lives and property.

The Minister said security agencies have been able to foil more attacks in the past few days, adding that the government was not sleeping.

He blamed lack of adequate equipment in the past for the growing cases of criminality in the FCT, saying that the story would change with the emergency procurement approval by the President.

“So many facilities were not provided. Vehicles for the security agencies are not there. You cannot believe that equipment to track criminals are not there. When anything happens, they go back to the office of the National Security Adviser or to the Force Headquarters. That is not the way it is supposed to be.

“When I was the Governor of Rivers State, the DSS told me they wanted a particular equipment. We were the only state that had it then. In fact, sometimes the headquarters asked for its use. That is a special equipment they needed and that equipment, we know how expensive it is but we had it and that helped us in reducing the level of crime.

“It was able to track the specific phones, not one that would say, for example, the criminals are around the city here. With that equipment, it was specific. It can track a particular phone to the exact spot or room.

“So, with the approval of Mr President for emergency procurement, we have been able to identify what each of the agencies need and we will be able to provide them.

“Again, before we came on board, the police had said that they had requested procurement of a certain number of motorcycles where vehicles can not get to the remote and mountainous areas. Unfortunately, they were not provided, but we are going to do that now.

“Security is not just these equipment. You also have to motivate the personnel. I don’t want to talk about the strategies because we are talking security now”.

Mr Wike said his office had approached the Bureau for Public Procurement since December to grant approval for the procurement of the equipment but that the approval was being delayed.

But with the emergency approval granted by the President, the procurement would now be finalised in a matter of days.

“The basic thing is that we have identified the needs of all these security agencies and we have to do the needful. We have even gone further to ask the State Director of DSS about what they would need to tackle this menace.

“What kind of equipment do you want? Not that if anything happens, you have to run to your headquarters to seek assistance. Before you go to your headquarters, something else would have happened. But if you have these equipment, you don’t need to seek approval of your headquarters to begin to use the equipment to track the criminals.”