The Commandant of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC), Oyo State Command, Dr. Michael Akintayo Adaralewa has revealed that the state is one of the states with highest number of rape case.
Dr. Adaralewa disclosed this while featuring on Ayekoto on Radio anchored by Mr. Olayinka Agbboola on Splash FM recently.
The NSCDC boss, who expressed that he could not ascertain whether Oyo State is rated first or second, however, said that the state’s Command is doing everything to tame the menace.
“Rape is so rampant in Oyo State but I wouldn’t say that it is more than any other states in Nigeria because I don’t do comparative analysis- but I will say that it is a bit high in Oyo State and we are really dealing with that and child labour also, these are cases that are really prevalent in our society.”
Dr. Adaralewa expressed that the Command is not only focusing on taming rape and child labour alone, but also working with the state’s Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Inclusion to address the menace of human trafficking.
Explaining the responsibility of NSCDC as one of the security agencies, Dr. Adaralew said that the agency is empowered to combat the act of destroying the public properties, pipelines and every other public utility.
“Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps was established as a government paramilitary agency in the year 2003. Before then, NSCDC had been existing but we call it Lagos Civil Defence since 1967 during the civil war. They were saddled with the responsibility of taking care of the victims of the war and rehabilitating them and making sure that they received medical attention where necessary. But those eras are the eras of voluntary but the federal government having recognized their activities and saw the need that the work of police is too numerous and they needed more hands and more support, so it was there and then the Parliament now enacted the Act in the year 2003 to establish Nigeria Security and Civil Corps. By 2007, it was also amended to strengthen the existing responsibilities given to the NSCDC and also empowered them to be armed in combating the act of vandalism in our society, people found in destroying the public properties, pipeline vandalisation and every other public utility. So there is no way we can effectively do this work without being armed because the vandals carry very sophisticated arms and most of the time they just attack our men and we record a lot of casualties. So, these are some of the responsibilities we carry out as of today and thank God we have been playing a complimentary role with the Nigeria Police and other security agencies particularly in Oyo State.
“We also have a department called Anti-Human Trafficking Unit, in fact the Ministry of Women and Affairs and Social Inclusion many times has commended us and even given us awards on this, because we really take this seriously. The Unit is doing wonderfully well; we have handle cases that are more than 2000 even since middle of last year till this march, because virtually every day we arrest people that are engage in rape the minors, those that are engage in human trafficking, taking child labour even the domestic violence and what a view. So, we are working in conjunction with the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Inclusion and they have been so supportive and always commend that Unit in our agency,” Adaralewa said.
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