News

……hails VC on campus safety

A former Coordinator of the Department of Criminology and Security Studies, University of Ilorin, Dr Mansurat Isiaka, has appealed to youths, particularly students of the University, to be more careful with the types of friends they keep, saying that they must be responsible in the way and manner they socialise with friends and acquaintances for their safety.

                Dr Isiaka gave this advice last Monday (September 9, 2024) while speaking with UNILORIN Bulletin in her office.

                The renowned criminologist said that the rate at which young people, particularly students of institutions of higher learning, lose their lives or get maimed and sometimes kidnapped for ransom nowadays through their supposed friends is becoming too alarming and needed to be checked for social sanity to prevail.

                Dr Isiaka also bemoaned the increasing acts of waywardness and licentious living among members of the younger generations. She said that many of them were lured into such antisocial tendencies by their peers and through mindless exploration of the social media.

                She explained that while it is totally impossible for any individual not to have friends and associates, it has become more important for them to be extremely selective in their relationships and associations with friends, saying that ‘‘all that glitters is not gold’’.

                Dr Isiaka added that it has also become imperative for parents and guardians to show more interest in the calibre and number of friends their children and wards keep as she said that it is only the choice of relatives that cannot be influenced.

                Stressing that the fewer the number of intimate friends a young person has, the better for him or her, and the easier for parents and guardians to effectively monitor such relationships. Dr Isiaka said that too many friends with different attitudes can lead an hitherto innocent and well-behaved young person into perversion.

                She added that parents and guardians have the responsibility of knowing the backgrounds of those their children associate with to enable them determine who they should be encouraged to continue or discontinue with.

                Dr Isiaka also encouraged young men and women as well as adults not to be hesitant in sharing information on their whereabouts at every point in time, saying that giving out such information and letting their “friends” know that they often give out such information to their family members would, more often than not, ensure their safety. 

                The renowned security expert also appealed to parents and guardians to be moderate with the quality of items such as telephones, jewelry and wears they make available for their children and wards. She said that criminally- minded individuals are often attracted by the ostentatious life style of their targets.

                Speaking on campus security, Dr Isiaka commended the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Wahab Olasupo Egbewole, SAN, for committing resources and efforts to the control of vegetation across the campus. .                       She noted that the exercise has not only beautified the institution’s landscape but would also ensure that criminals have no hiding place on the campus. 

                The former Departmental Coordinator also saluted the Vice Chancellor for ensuring that the entire campus, particularly the academic areas and the main roads, are well-illuminated at night with the provision of solar-powered streetlights, saying that the illumination of the campus makes it unattractive to criminals.

                Dr Isiaka advised the University Security Division to commence regular patrol of the campus at night, explaining that with the patrol, criminally-minded persons would be discouraged from operating on the campus because they would be conscious of being apprehended.            She also called for mounting of Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras in strategic places across the campus and connected to a central point that would always be manned for the purpose of constant monitoring by well trained personnel for criminality to be detected and nipped in the bud.