The Commandant of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Federal Capital Territory Command, Dr Olusola Odumosu, has urged the Federal Government to introduce tougher punishments for vandals targeting public infrastructure in Abuja.
Odumosu made the call on Monday while addressing journalists at the NSCDC office in Abuja. He said the current punishments given to offenders are too light and fail to discourage repeated crimes.
“There is a need for stiffer penalties for these offenders,” Odumosu said. “Most of them, by the time we take them to court, only get very minimal penalties such as fines. You take vandals to court only to get fined for as low as between 2,000 to 5,000 naira, while in some cases, they are given community service such as sweeping some portions of the metropolis.”
He noted that many of the vandals arrested by the corps return to the streets to damage infrastructure again, a trend he described as worrying.
“We arrest vandals, but we keep seeing them back on the road vandalising government infrastructure over and over again,” he said. “This is a cause for concern for us, and it is so because the punishments or convictions they get cannot deter anybody.”
Odumosu called on the judiciary and other authorities to support the corps by ensuring quicker trials and stricter sentences.
“We have been doing our part, but we don’t have control over the prosecution process, such as the hearing dates, adjournments, and eventual conviction,” he said. “The judiciary should help us to do their part because our own is just to take them to court; whatever happens thereafter is not within our power.”
He added that the NSCDC always works within the law to prosecute suspects swiftly.
“We don’t usually waste time in tackling matters that we feel require prosecution, as we are guided by the extant laws, which stipulate that you cannot keep a suspect beyond 48 hours,” he said. “And so whenever we have suspects in our custody, we always move swiftly into action by carrying out immediate and appropriate investigation before taking the matter to court.”
Odumosu said delays in the judicial process often weaken their efforts, making it difficult to discourage vandalism.
“Stiffer penalties will further encourage my officers and men who are losing their sleep; patrolling and surveying every nook and cranny of the FCT to make more arrests, knowing that their efforts will not go down the drain,” he said.
