Daniel Agbolade, Ibadan

Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) in charge of Zone 11, Mr. Leye Oyebade, has appealed to people in the zone to support efforts of the zonal police hierarchy in nipping crimes in the bud before they blow up to crisis by volunteering information to the police.

He said though the police have crime-mapped the entire zone to know the  various crime peculiarities of the three states in the zone and how to combat them, the place of making prior information available to security operatives will go a long way to help them achieve proactive community policing effort.

The AIG made the appeal while speaking  after a 10km fitness walk organized by a private radio station in Ibadan, Inspiration FM.

The police boss who was the chief walker and accompanied by leaders and men of other security agencies in the state, led close to a thousand people who joined in the walk from different parts of the state.

According to him, the zonal command is already concluding arrangement to inaugurate the first Security Stakeholders Forum where the people will regularly advise the police on how to upgrade its systems and operations to address heinous issues in the society. 

He said the platform will also give room for constructive criticism of the police so as to become better in their effort of guaranteeing security of lives and property in the states of Oyo, Osun and Ondo.

While lauding management of the radio station for the fitness walk which will help prepare the body to fight against sicknesses, he said it is in tandem with the proactive security approaches being promoted by acting Inspector General of Police, Mr.  Mohammed Adamu.

He said, “Members of the public must partner with the police. In doing that, there will be a lot of advantages in problem solving, there will be a lot of advantages in organizational transformation of the society, there will be a lot of partnership that will assist us in getting a lot of information from members of the public, and at the end of the day we will be able to have a relatively crime free society.

“We have crime mapped the zone to know which crime is prevalent and where and in that wise we have been able to draw up a technical platform to be able to address heinous crimes. 

“So, what we are appealing for from members of the public is to reach us on time. We have circulated our dedicated numbers and we have the control room numbers where people can also reach us when they are in distress and we are trying to improve on our response to these distress call from members of the public.

“Members of the public should work in into a police station and give the information that you need to the DPO. Get his name and if he refuses to act or divulge the source of information then you can reach out to somebody senior to him, but don’t just go and give information to somebody who you cannot recall his name or his identity, just because you saw him or her in a police uniform on the street. This way, we have been able to get a lot of information and I want to appreciate the media because they have been very helpful in this wise.”

Oyo State Commissioner of Youth and Sports, Mr. Abayomi Oke, in his remarks, said the government decided to support and participate in the initiative because it falls in line with its programme, calling on other private organisations to key into the various opportunities for development available in the state.

General Manager of the radio station, Mrs. Olufunmilayo Olasogba, said the station decided on the initiative as a way of helping people with busy schedules and who couldn't make out time to exercise their bodies and encourage many people to do so at the same time.

She added that the radio station was worried by the rate at which people suddenly die, especially educated and well informed people, as a result of too busy schedules that wouldn't make them have time to take care of themselves.

According to her, the fitness walk which is the third in the series has been recording larger number of participants by every edition, an indication that the people believe in it and also crave for it, commending partners for making the event a success.

Highpoint of the event was the raffle draw where walkers also won various gift items for their participation.