Lagos — That the security situation in Nigeria has continued to deteriorate day after day is no longer News. Day after day, chilling details about the escapades of criminals in our midst continue to take prominent positions in our National as well as local news items. The situation has become so hopeless that Nigerians have resorted to prayers but that in itself may not be the solution. Chief Godwin Ubaka Okeke, the owner and operator of G U O luxury bus service in Onitsha was kidnapped as he was leaving his church premises penultimate Sunday at Onitsha. Mr. Pete Edochie, a popular Nollywood actor was also said to have been kidnapped at Nkpor near Onitsha a few days before Chief Ubaka was.

Kidnapping for ransom as well as armed bank and other robberies have become the order of the day in the entire South-East and South-South regions of this country without the security forces in charge of maintaining security of lives and property of the citizens being able to do much to forestall the continuation of this terrible trend in our society. Among the 'Who Is Who' in our society today, it has now become the issue of who the next victim should be among them. Most prominent people now shun visits to their villages in the south-east and the south-south regions of this country for the fear of being kidnapped for ransom. Unfortunately, the aged relations of these prominent people and politicians are now the ones that get kidnapped with ransoms being most of the time paid by these people to get their relations released from these kidnappers

Meanwhile, the policemen and their soldier counterparts posted to the highways around Onitsha and other major towns in the South-East and south-south regions of the country have continued to terrorise innocent travelers by extorting money while fully armed with automatic weapons while the robbers and kidnappers hold sway in the region. The collection of money by these policemen and soldiers at the road blocks is now done with impunity and the transporters and commercial motorcyclists know that whatever or whoever you are carrying; you will easily cross the road blocks once you know what to do at such points. The bulging pockets of these officers aptly reflect the reason why a lot of them have to bribe their way to be posted to such 'juicy' spots. The authorities of these security forces cannot claim ignorance of the actions of these their officers on these highways since it is done in the full glare of everybody passing through the road. All through the length of the Shagamu - Benin - Asaba - Onitsha - Owerri - Aba - Port Harcourt- Ikot Ekpene - Calabar highways policemen line themselves at less than a kilometre apart asking for all manner of vehicle papers with the hope of finding one silly mistake or the other on the vehicle papers which they will then exploit to bargain for ransoms from motorists while the criminals in their often big cars and SUV's move from one point to the other unmolested and sometimes with their kidnap victims and weapons on board.

It is actually appreciated by most Nigerians that the Police Force in this country today lacks not just the numbers but also the equipment and adequate training to continue to match the sophistication of the modern day highly sophisticated criminals in this country. However, to now dissipate the few ill-equipped policemen by spreading them all along the highways where their effectiveness is in great doubt is very unfortunate. One often wonders why every police division must have its men on the highways as well as the other Mobile policemen and even the highway patrol and special anti robbery squads all competing for space on the lucrative highways of this nation. In most advanced countries of the world, one rarely sees policemen on same spot all the time; instead they continue to patrol along the highways. Even untrained minds like the writer's believe that unmarked police patrol vans equipped with communication equipment which is linked to all the police stations and formations in the particular areas of their operation and moving in both directions on our highways will definitely be more effective method of policing than the present method where the few policemen available are lined up on the highways with probably no communication equipment to report a suspiciously moving vehicle to the next available police unit. In recent times, many police formations and state commands have become beneficiaries of large numbers of well equipped police vehicles courtesy of the various state governments. Unfortunately however, the rate of crime all over the nation seems to continue to be on the increase maybe because the police force itself has refused to go through the reorientation and discipline needed to bring the result which these Governors and their people envisaged when they made such donations to improve the effectiveness of the police commands in their areas of jurisdiction.