Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi has identified impunity, poverty, and idleness among Nigerian youths as some of the factors responsible for the increased crime rate in Nigeria.
The governor in an interview on Channels Television breakfast programme said to eliminate crime in our society, the focus should not only be on crime but most importantly the causes of crime.
“We have to deal with it at the local level. Attorney Generals at the state level must find a way to bring together the commissioner of police; the prison controller and the civil society to ensure that access to justice is accelerated.
“This is the number one problem. If you commit a crime and you are not punished, there is no incentive for you not to continue to commit crime. So, we need to tackle that comprehensively.
“We need to not only be tough on crime, we need to be tough on the causes of crime,” he said.
The governor explained further that impunity breeds crime because it creates the impression of a lawless society.
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He said “crimes are not ethnic or religious,” adding that “there are provisions in the law of the land to deal with crime,” and therefore criminals must be brought to book and not allowed to go scot-free.
“The challenge that I have seen is not so much that these issues are proliferated, it is the extent to which we have been able to address criminality.
“When you resort to all manners of subterfuge to ensure that those who have committed crime are not brought to book, then you are sending a signal to the generality of people who have the tendency to do it, that they can do it and nothing will happen.”
The governor highlighted the second factor responsible for increased crime rate as demographic challenge.
“We have a lot of young able-bodied Nigerians that are idle and don’t see delayed gratification as the solution to whatever is happening to them.
“They want immediate, quick benefits and they see an example of people who have ‘made it’. This also creates the perception that it is ok to make it, either legal or illegal.”
“That is that poverty is violence. I believe that is why this government has tired as much as possible to address poverty from the bottom up,” he said.
According to him, the government is working to ensure that the most vulnerable of our population receive the greatest benefits of government.
