The unfavourable socio-economic environment in the country may have pushed some residents of Lagos State into crime and criminality, judging from the sharp rise in cases of reported robbery across the state.
From Ikorodu to Surulere, Mushin, Amuwo-Odofin, and Oshodi to Alimosho, some residents have experienced robberies in broad daylight or at night. Expectedly, many of the victims have lost valuables, including mobile phones, and personal and household items to these men of the underworld.
In the Mazamaza area of Amuwo-Odofin, residents have experienced consistent cases of robberies with one of the victims revealing that the robbers visited regularly in the last three weeks.
A resident, Ruth Benjamin said that the criminals broke into her mum’s two-bedroom apartment through the kitchen window, from where they made their way to the sitting room.
According to her, after they got hold of her mother’s mobile phone, they were in the process of carting away the television set in the sitting room when the noise in the process woke her mum up.
My mum thinking that I was the one in the sitting room asked where I was going to at that time of the night. When she did not get any response, she went out of her room and headed for the sitting room, which forced the thief to abandon the television, locked them in the room, and went away with her phone and charger.
She added that she had to block her mother’s two bank accounts almost immediately after the robbers left so that they could not have access to them. The thieves, however, used one of the phone numbers to open an OPay account, which they used to send messages to her phone contacts soliciting money to complete payment for a surgical operation. We ended up blocking the two lines two thereafter.
According to her, three days before her mum’s apartment was burgled, two other neighbours had their apartments burgled three days apart as the community continued to suffer at the hands of the criminals. She said that in each of the incidents, the victims suffered varying amounts of losses, including mobile phones, educational tablets, and Automated Teller Machine cards.
Residents of Lawani Street, off Ishaga Road, Surulere, have also had terrible experiences at the hands of criminals, who robbed them of their valuables including cash at least twice within seven days. A particular house on the street has been unlucky to be visited four times in six weeks (between July and August) by the thieves.
A resident of Agodo-Egbe, Ikotun, John Ojukwu, disclosed that in the last month, at least once a week, there have been reported cases of robberies in his area, with all of them taking place in the early hours of the day.
In another incident, worshippers returned from church service a few Sundays ago to meet their apartments ravaged by criminals in a rare day-time robbery, Ojukwu said, adding that some persons who leave home early have lost their valuables to criminals of late.
It was also learnt that the situation in Agodo-Egbe is similar to what many residents have been experiencing in the Sabo-Yaba area of Ikorodu, and its environs. Robbery incidents have also been reported in Isheri-Osun, Ijegun, and environs.
A resident of Ikorodu, who simply gave her name as Busola said: “The increasing spate of robbery in Ikorodu is becoming a source of worry. This is because robbers are targeting residents that have gone out to work, and break into their rooms or apartments using sharp objects to cut burglary proof on windows and cart away valuables.
“Many residents are attributing this rise in cases of robbery to rising unemployment and the hardship being experienced in the face of the high cost of living following the removal of fuel subsidy.
“Just last week, one of my neighbours in the Eyita area of Odo Nla, who only returns home on weekends (he’s away from home for five days) met an empty house as robbers had scaled the fence to remove electrical appliances, including music equipment, cooking utensils and everything that they could lay their hands on.
For Sola Ogundipe, the government has continued to fail residents of the state in the provision of basic services, including the security of lives and property.
“Under the Akinwunmi Ambode-led administration, many of the street lights were working, which helped to curtail the activities of these robbers on many routes. When Babajide Sanwo-Olu came on board, one thought such would be one of the projects that he would not only sustain but improve upon because of its huge benefits. But today, many streetlights are not working, thereby creating a clement atmosphere for robbers to ply their trade.”
Ogundipe noted that the Lagos Neighborhood Safety Corps (LNSC) was established to complement the efforts of the Police and other federal security agencies, especially at the grassroots level, but with what is happening, it seems that it has failed in its responsibility. What good or value has the agency added to the securing Lagos State? He asked.
A resident of the Abule Egba area, who pleaded anonymity recounted how some hoodlums robbed him of his mobile phone and thereafter emptied his bank account the same day before he had the opportunity to block the account. “I was returning from the Afrika Shrine, where I went to attend Seun Kuti’s show two weeks ago. As I alighted from a tricycle, some boys in the area accosted me and took away my Tecno phone. They both had knives, and this was around 7 a.m. Before I could get to the bank that day, I discovered that the N27,000 that was in my account was gone.”
It was also learnt that robbers invaded houses in the Akowonjo-Egbeda area of Alimosho Local Council, in the early hours of July 13, carting away valuables.
A resident, Hamlimatu Abdulkareem, narrating her experience said: “They came with one LT Volkswagen bus that had no number plate, and when they came down, they started to shoot in the air. I lost my phone to them. They also robbed others like me, who sell wares here overnight. They dispossessed us mainly of our mobile phones and cash.
“They were not even afraid of the police, neither were there in a hurry to go away, as they just divided themselves into groups and were collecting valuables from anyone that was in sight. Many people ran into Oke, Ajani Akingbogun, and Alhaji Idowu streets. They were not afraid of the police at all.”
In 2016, the state government established the LNSC to assist the police and other security agencies in maintaining law and order in the state. They operate in all the 57 local councils/ Local Council Development Areas (LCDA) in Lagos.
The state government said that LNSC officers are indigenes of the state drawn from the various local councils /LCDAs where they operate. This, it said, is a deliberate policy to make use of their local knowledge to achieve maximum grassroots intelligence gathering and enhance community policing. But with the surge in robberies across the state, a lot of questions are being asked about the agency’s continuous relevance.
Asked to comment on the rising cases of robberies in the state, the Public Affairs Officer of LNSC, Toba Runsewe, she asked that questions be sent to her, but the agency was yet to reply as of press time.
Efforts were also made to get the Lagos Police Command to comment. The State Police Public Relations Officer, Babatunde Hundeyin, was called twice on his mobile phone, but he never picked up his calls and also did not return the calls. Thereafter, a message was sent to his Whatsapp line, but he was yet to respond to as at press time.
