Residents of Ikole-Ekiti in Ikole Local Government Area of Ekiti, on Thursday, urged the state government to empower the Amotekun corps with weapons and logistics to fight insecurity in the state.
A cross-section of the residents, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria in Ikole-Ekiti, said that the impact of the Amotekun corps would have been better felt if they had been given all the necessary backing.
According to them, the few available Amotekun personnel are not enough to cover the whole state, advising the state government, therefore, to recruit more hands, with an improved salary structure for the security outfit.
One of the residents, Mr. Bayo Ogunjobi, a teacher, stressed the need for the state government to empower the security outfit by adding more men and equipping them with the necessary logistics to curb kidnapping and other forms of crimes in the state.
Ogunjobi noted that many farmers could no longer visit their farms because of fear of being kidnapped.
“I want to call on the state government to recruit more personnel into the security outfit and equip it with good weapons to enhance its effectiveness.
“The few personnel cannot cover the whole communities in Ekiti, but with more recruitment and good salary, we will be safer,” he said.
Another resident, Mrs. Folasade Oni, a trader, said that kidnapping of people in the state had become a booming business for the hoodlums, saying that this needed to be addressed quickly.
“It is only the Amotekun corps that are the closest to people in the hinterlands but they are few in number,” she said.
To Mr. Godwin Ibrahim, a commercial driver, the incessant kidnapping of people, especially those in rural communities has assumed a worrisome dimension and needs urgent intervention by the government.
“I just want to appeal to the state government to empower the Amotekun personnel and increase their salary to encourage them to be more effective in the discharge of their duties.
“Government should also recruit more men into the corps to fight the incessant kidnapping because nobody is free again to visit the farm or travel early in the morning or late in the night within the state.
“Payment of ransom to kidnappers and the trauma being experienced by victims have made people to adon their towns, farms, and, communities for many months,” he said.
Another resident, Mrs. Keh. inde Anjorin, a hairdresser, urged the governor-elect, Mr. Bio. dun Abayomi, to give priority to securing a variety of lives and property when he assumed office.
Although Anjorin praised the security outfit for doing its best, she, however, said that it still needed more support to aid its efficiency and effectiveness.