Oyo State Police Command is to rehabilitate the
11 kid robbers arrested in Ibadan, the state
capital, on June 15, the Commissioner of Police,
Mohammed Katsina, said on Thursday.
Katsina, who disclosed this in an interview with
the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibadan,
added that the arrest of the kid robbers was part
of initiatives by the command to ensure a crime-
free environment in the state.
Katsina stated that some of the kid robbers, aged
between 12 and 14, conspired and invaded a
house around the Challenge Area of Ibadan,
where they stole the sum of N11,000.
“Based on information, the Anti-Robbery Squad of
the command was sent out immediately and they
were surprised to see kids of 12 and 14 years of
age coming out to make confessional
statements,” he said.
Katsina, who also expressed pity on the plight of
the kids, explained that they voluntarily narrated
to the police details about their activities.
He lamented that the involvement of the kids in
robbery activities could be attributed to lack of
parental care and poverty.
“Most of these children are from broken homes
and I wish parents can learn from the plight of
these kids and take proper care of their children.
“One thing that keeps disturbing me is the
voluntary narration and sincerity of the kids. They
have no shelter of any sort and to them, their
future starts and ends on the bridge.
“Their only means of livelihood is to savage
innocent members of the public, be involved in
pick pocketing, robbery and related criminal
activities,” he said.
Katsina noted that 90 per cent of the kids
arrested were not residents or indigenes of Oyo
State.
“Some of them are from Benin Republic in search
of greener pastures in Nigeria, in a negative way,”
he said.
The police boss disclosed that one of the 11 kid
robbers, a 12-year-old boy, was apprehended in
Ogbomoso in a robbery-related conduct.
“In the course of the arrest, he led us to six other
members of his group, where four of them were
minors and the two others adults.
“The boy is from Kwara State, as we got to know
from his confession. He confessed that his father
was living happily with his mother until he
married a second wife.
“As a result of that, there was a problem and the
mother moved out with the kid robber and
relocated to Ogbomoso,” he said.
Katsina, however, added that the command
was currently taking care of the 11 arrested
minors.
He also said that Governor Abiola Ajimobi
had promised to assist in the rehabilitation
and provision of adequate care for the kids.
“When I spoke with him, he said that there
were rehabilitation centres in Ibadan, where
the kids would be provided with basic care
amenities. The governor also said that the
state government would assist to provide job
opportunities for unemployed youths in the
state at the newly-inaugurated Waste-to-
Energy projects.”
The Oyo police boss, however, called on
parents and the governments of the
neighbouring countries to monitor the
activities of their children and wards, while
admonishing Nigerians and philanthropists to
assist them.
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